Avengers VS Justice League (Whump With Story)
by EvilApril
Summary: After finding what turns out to be a fourth Mother Box, the Avengers are transported to a world that isn't their own. There they meet another team, with first impressions not getting off to a good start each team tries to prove their the good guys. With the unexplainable events they won't see the incoming threat, a threat the Justice League and Avengers will need to face together.
1. Chapter 1, When Worlds Collide

Tony lifted the large, heavy metal cube onto the white toped lab table. His arc reactor's blue light beamed through his navy blue AC-DC, long white sleeved shirt. The sleeves themselves have been rolled up just passed his elbows.

"What the hell have you got your hands on now?" Tony looked up to find Steve leaning against the the labs doorway.

"Not sure." He replied, rubbing his freshly trimmed goatee.

"The great Tony Stark doesn't know!" Steve pretended to be shocked as he approached. "If you don't know we're all doomed." Steve said sarcastically as undid his brown leather jacket, revealing his grey t-shirt underneath.

"What do you want Rogers?" Tony asked, his eyes fixated on the metal box.

"I heard Thor found you a new toy."

"A toy I don't get to keep." Tony sighed, turning behind him he collected his tablet, his fingers rapidly tapped the screen. "Thor is handing it over to a friend of his, Dr Strange I think his name was."

"Surprised Banner isn't helping you." Steve told him, his eyes searching the room for Tony's fellow scientist.

"He'll be here soon; said he was meeting Natasha." Tony's eyes still didn't move from the small screen he held in his hands.

"How long you got with that thing anyway?" Steve asked leaning in for a closer look. There were distinctive markings that could be mistaken for text, as well as three large circles on each face that intercepted each other. The metal itself was a deep dirty orange, covered in scrapes and scratches, it looked ancient.

"Only a few hours." Tony reluctantly replied. Steve wasn't picking up the fact that he was disturbing Tony, wasting some of the precious time he had to work on the strange piece of technology. "Friday what you seeing?" Tony asked his artificial intelligence, finally looking up from his tablet as blue lights from above scanned the basket ball sized cube.

"The cube is still emitting the same frequency that you picked up on before." The slightly robotic female voice spoke, her voice coming from speakers dotted around the large lab.

"Is it transmitting or receiving?" Tony asked the A.I, a screen appeared on the table in front of him. The screen showed the signal in question, the waves fluctuated rapidly.

"Both." Friday replied, the signal in front of Tony suddenly split showing two distinct wave patterns. Tony leaned on the white table, trying to wrap his head around the mystery of what he had in front of him. Steve was watching closely, trying to follow along.

"Where's the transmitting signal coming from?" Tony asked, tapping at a few buttons that had appeared on the table screen.

"The centre point of the cube." Friday told him.

"Start triangulating where the signal is transmitting, and see if you can locate the point of origin for the signal it is receiving." Again Tony tapped at the screen on the table, looking up at the box every now and then, seeing if there was anything he had missed. "I have a sneaking suspicion their going to be from the same source."

"Where did Thor even find it?" Steve pretended he didn't see Tony role his eyes, thinking he was merely annoyed with his lack of knowledge.

"Another realm under his father's rule, buried in a secret vault that hadn't been opened in millions of years." Tony reeled of the information with ease, even with ninety-nine percent of his attention on the information being displayed in front of him.

"Stark." Even when his name called Tony didn't look up. "Get Thor to get that thing out of here." Natasha was clearly agitated, Bruce quickly followed after her as she charged into the white walled lab. Her long red hair made her angry blue eyes more vibrant, seeming to burst with colour.

"It's out of here in a few hours, don't worry." Tony still didn't look up as Natasha approached, Bruce at her side. Only just having returned from a mission she wore her usual black body suit, a number of gadgets strapped to her belt, one gun fastened to each thigh. Bruce adjusted his glasses, watching as her hand twitched near one of her guns, he could see her pulling it on Tony.

"Not soon enough." Natasha's right hand now rested on one of her guns.

"Tony." Bruce finally grabbed his attention, Tony looked up, confusion was clear of Steve's face, he was lost within the technical terms. Natasha's eyes burned with rage, while worry was plastered all over Bruce, from his face to body posture.

"Steve, I have your shield." Tony suddenly changed the subject, he turned his back to the others, making his way deeper into the lab, before disappearing from sight. He soon returned, freshly painted shield in hand. "Try not to chip the new paint job." Tony told Steve as he handed over the shield along with a new harness for it. "Try it on, makes sure it fits." Tony told him as he returned his attention to the cube.

"Stark if you don't get that box in Thor's hands and off this world in the next few minutes I'll take it from you myself." Bruce watched Natasha unclip her gun from her thigh, she held it firmly in her gloved hand.

"Son of Stark, there has been a change of plans." Thor's voice boomed as he turned the corner into the lab, his hammer in hand. Tony threw his hands into the air, his quite afternoon of studying an interesting new piece of ancient technology ruined.

"You said I had a few hours." Tony argued, now five people including himself standing around the table.

"Dr Strange has urged me to deliver the box to him immediately." Thor stood out in the white room, his bright red cape dragged behind him, his silver metal and black chest plate as shiny as Steve's shield, that he had now attached to his back via the new harness.

"At least give Friday enough time to track the signal." Tony asked, now his time frame considerably shortened he was working away, with another screen now beside the first on the table, he was examining two sets of data simultaneously.

"I am sorry Stark; I must take the box from you." Thor went to grab the box, his hand only just touched the surface and he recoiled in pain. The others jumped back in surprise. "What trickery is this?" Thor demanded, thinking Tony had done something to the box.

"Friday what's going on?"

"The core temperature of the cube is rising considerably, also the signals being transmitted and received are no longer measurable" The box suddenly began to vibrate, slowly becoming more violent with each second. Everyone took another step back.

"Tony?" Steve questioned, also wondering if this was his doing.

"Wasn't me." He replied, kind of annoyed all the blame was on him. Deep blue lights suddenly spewed from cracks in the box, the table now shook, the box becoming more out of control. Tony stepped back and again disappeared into the lab, Bruce rushed over to the screens Tony had been working from moments ago, his eyes twitched form left to right as he read the data.

"It's as if its powering up." Bruce deduced from the information in front of him.

"Bruce move." Tony's voice spoke through the Iron Man amour, his voice tainted with a mechanical tone. Like Thor's cape, the red and gold of the Iron Man amour stood out like a sore thumb in the plain white room.

"Tony what are you doing?" Natasha questioned, her finger now around the trigger of her gun.

"It doesn't want to be touched, so let's touch it." Tony without hesitation reached out, the familiar mechanical wheeze of the amour sounded as Tony moved.

"Tony don't!" Steve protested. But before Tony could lay a finger on the box, the blue light exploded from it engulfing them all.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hope this is off to a good start, Im really excited for this crossover fan fiction, it gonna be a good one. love to know what you think or what you want to see happen. There is whump to come, see you soon.**


	2. Chapter 2, Who Are You?

Steve's struggled to open his eyes, his body felt heavy, his limbs seeming to weigh him down. He recalled the last time he felt like this was after waking up from the ice. With too much effort Steve pushed himself of his chest and onto his side, he could feel a cold gentle breeze brush over his face. He forced his eyes open, a flat green field stretched out in every direction until meeting with a towering skyline of buildings. His friends lay beside him, all still round the box, that now sat on the grey cold concert floor. Steve noticed the large crumbled memorial behind him, a statue of a man was in pieces, even the few steps leading up the the shattered figure were damaged. The night loomed above, the clouds seemed to linger, white lights lit the surrounding area. A groan from one of his friends awakening brought him to his feet. Steve quickly approached Natasha, her eyes creaked open.

"You alright?" He asked, offering her his hand.

"No." She moaned grasping Steve's hand, he pulled her to her feet with ease, his strength quickly returning. Before anymore could be said Natasha went to Bruce's side, tapping his face gently to bring him round. Thor suddenly bolted upright, his eyes looking around wildly. His hammer resting beside him, he snatched it up in his hand before jumping to his feet.

"Thor." Steve shouted, the natural authority in his voice caught Thor's attention.

"Rogers, where have we been taken?" He asked, his eyes finding the box in front of him, back in its original state.

"No idea." He replied as he made his way over to Tony. The Iron Man amour lay on its side, using both hands he pulled Tony onto his back. At first he thought he saw the beaming blue light of the arc reactor flicker but the thought was quickly lost.

"Tony." Steve called, knocking on the faceplate like a door. "Tony!" He called again with a bit more concern, he knelt by his unmoving friend. Like Thor he suddenly sat up, almost head butting Steve.

"What happened?" The gold Iron Man faceplate slid up revelling the billionaire.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Steve got to his feet and like with Natasha offered his hand in assistance. Tony instead used the repulsors in his hands to elegantly push him to his feet, his metal boots clanked against the lifeless concert ground.

"Friday, where are we?" Tony asked his A.I.

"Location unknown." She replied.

"Connect to the Stark satellite, triangulate our position?" Tony asked, wondering why Friday was unable to locate them.

"Satellite not found, location unknown." The others not hearing her response still looked to Tony for the answer.

"Well gang, we're not in Kansas anymore." Tony told them, turning to take in his surroundings.

"I don't understand, Stark explain." Thor demanded not getting the reference.

"I don't think this is Earth, not the one we grew to love anyway." Tony took a step towards the box that had caused all this. "Friday can't give me a location because she can't connect to the satellite, and she can't connect to the satellite, because there is no satellite." Natasha helped Bruce to his shaky feet, surprised himself that the big guy didn't come out to play. Now on his feet he adjusted his dark purple button up shirt.

"Tony what did you do?" Bruce now pointing the finger at Tony.

"I didn't even touch the bloody thing." Tony had to think for a second after replying, not sure if his answer was true. "You think if I touch it now it might magically take us back?" Tony went to touch the cube but Steve grabbed his arm preventing him.

"I think you've done enough."

"Is nobody listening to me?" Tony argued, snatching his arm from Steve. "I didn't do this; I don't think so anyway." Tony mumbled the last few words, him himself not sure what was even going on. A flash of blue and the crackle of lightening made everyone look to the destroyed monument. There stood a young man in an all red suit, lightning whipped around him for a second before disappearing as quick as it appeared.

"What do we have here then?" The young man cocked his head examining the Avengers. The red mask and cowl concealed his identity. Tony had dropped his faceplate as soon as he was startled, the retinal displays in his helmet lit his eyes up bright blue.

"A couple of lost tourists." Tony replied not sure what to make of the encounter, while the robotic tone of the Iron Man amour made him seem more menacing.

"We don't want any trouble." Steve quickly added, the Avengers manoeuvring into a line.

"Then it would be interesting to know why your all standing behind a Mother Box." The young man in the red suit then struggled to cross his arms, when he eventually did cross his arms, he looked down at them and unfolded them deciding to let them to rest at his side.

"Mother Box?" Bruce questioned, he went to kneel down next to the box to get a better look but Natasha took his arm stopping him. Bruce stood straight adjusting his glasses.

"You know what it is." The young man laughed.

"And why do you want it?" Steve asked, trying to lock eyes with the young man but the kid was twitchy, his eyes dancing around, the kid himself seemed unable to stand still.

"You know why, your going to, you know…" The young man examined everyone's confused, puzzled facial expression. "Bring world destruction." He told them as if they should already know. The Avengers looked at each other, looking for someone, anyone to have an answer.

"We have no clue what this box can do, all we know is that it brought us here, wherever here is." Steve tired to explain

"I don't know when you lot escaped Arkham Asylum but I'm going to put you back there." Before anything more can be said, four figures dropped from the sky. Two landed on either side of the young man, just in front of him. A woman with long black wavy hair stood strong, her muscular legs and arms look like they never faulted. The red blue and gold, skin tight sleeveless top and skirt giving her complete flexibility, she remained the others to much of Captain America, the eagle on her chest and the shield in her hand a little to convenient. Her armoured boots just went over her knees.

"Flash what did we tell you about running off." Her accent was soft but her voice was one of a leader, she glanced over at the young red suited man. The Flash shrugged his shoulders, smiling in reply. Tony's eyes had fallen on what was left of a dark skinned man who stood next to the woman, from what his scans showed he was almost completely robotic, a cyborg. A red glow seemed to come from within, while the only visible signs of humanity were on one side of his face.

"Just hand over the Mother Box and you wont come to any harm." Another man on the other side of Flash spoke, his suit a mixture of grey and black made him seem out of place in the well lit area, his cape so black it looked like it belonged in the night sky. Like the Flash his identity was concealed with a cowl, however the man had his, from the looks of things resemble a bat.

"I think it would be best if you put down you weapons." Said the man next to the bat, his long brown, blond tipped tinted hair hung just over his shoulders. He held a trident in a tight grasp, his metal amour moulded perfectly to his large muscles. His unmasked face revealed his tanned skin and bright blue, almost white eyes.

"Why should we trust you?" Thor finally spoke up; he had been watching the man dressed as a bat eyeing his hammer.

"Because we're the good guys." Barry laughed, again expecting the Avengers to know who they are.

"We don't know that." Natasha informed, having listened enough she decided it was time to intervene.

"Right this isn't going anywhere." Tony deduced making a b-line for the Box. His metal gloved hands almost touched the surface but blue light flashed in front of his eyes and the box was gone. Tony stood straight, finding the Mother Box in Flash's hands.

"Tony don't." Steve ordered, his hand reaching for is shield anticipating Tony's disobedience. Like Steve predicted he raised his right hand revealing the repulsor in his palm. Before Tony even fired the cyborg suddenly changed his left arm into a weapon and from the distressed look on half his face unwillingly. A red blast shot from the weapon making the Avengers scramble.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **This is too much fun to write, would appreciate it if ya either left review if you enjoyed this chapter. Helps remind me I'm doing something right, I think :P Don't be afraid to share any ideas you may or may not have for this fan fiction, I will always try fit them in. Anyways see you later.**


	3. Chapter 3, Marvel VS Dc

Tony's boot jets sent him into the air, a fight broke out on the ground bellow, he soon found the cyborg quickly join him. Both hovered for a second, each scanning the other, sizing up their competition but the moment soon passed and like on the ground they engaged in combat. Tony raised both hands, the high pitch whistle like sound of his repulsors charging was music to his ears. The shots went off, the cyborg raised his metal arms protecting his chest, the repulsors blasts hit the cyborgs arms, knocking him back slightly but doing little damage. Tony's first assessment of his opponent was right, unlike Tony he wasn't in tune with his mechanical enhancements, the heavy metal was weighing him down, he wasn't as agile. With his obvious protectiveness of his chest and the glowing red light coming from within, he was most likely protecting his power source. However, with the glowing arc reactor in Tony's chest clearly visible to his opponent, the cyborg would have to be blind not to realize it was the amours power source, what he might not know is that its keeping him alive. He debated in his mind if the knowledge of this information would alter the cyborg's actions. The cyborg returned fire snatching Tony from his thoughts, Iron Man easily dodged the attack.

Steve had to roll out the way of the cyborg's stray projectiles. The red blasts scorched the concrete. The man dressed as a bat took advantage of this fact, able to rush him and get a couple of hits passed his shield. Steve staggered back recovering from the hits, his shield up defensively. Steve thought fast sweeping his leg, attempting to take out the bats feet but as if anticipating that move he jumped over the attack. Again giving him an opening, this time for the bat to land a kick to the side of Steve's face. The force of the kick put him on his hands and knees for a second, shaking his head he jumped back into the fight.

Widow was keeping an eye on her other team's mates as the fight raged, mainly Bruce who had found shelter behind a bench. Natasha raised her guns at the long black haired woman, aiming for her shoulder she went to fire. A flash of blue took her vison and her guns were gone, she held nothing in her hands. Instead she charged at the woman, sliding between her legs to then take her knees out with a firm kick. As expected she fell to her knees but what widow didn't see coming next was her turn and land a solid punch to her gut.

Thor watched Widow hit the ground, she lay on her back clutching her belly in pain. Too busy to assist Thor was parrying each attempted attack by the equally as muscular tanned man. Even with his trident being knocked away with each strike he continued to put his full strength into each swing and lunge. A deafening roar suddenly took the night, everyone turned for a brief second to see the Hulk punch the woman's shield, she was sent flying painfully hitting the ground ten meters away. The fight resumed as Hulk leaned over Natasha, he gently touched her face with a single green finger. She did not move, having fallen unconscious. Anger coursed through his blood, his rage unmeasurable. He went to charge at the woman who was just recovering when lightening erupted around him, he could feel little pinches of pain as multiple fists where laid into him. Hulk raised his arm out in front of him and the Flash hit it hard, taking himself out. He crashed down onto his back in front of Hulk slightly dazed, Hulk went to plant his foot on his chest when in a blink of an eye he vanished. Hulk looked up, the woman with the shield was only a meter way, she landed an uppercut, her fist crashing under Hulk's jaw. Falling backwards he was about to land on Natasha's unmoving form but with a ripple of lighting she was gone, now on the ground Hulk watched the Flash lay her down a safe distance away.

Tony wasn't paying much attention to the fight under him, until the bellowing roar of the Hulk caught his attention, caught everyone attention but his fight with the cyborg soon continued. The distraction however had given the other metal man a chance to get close, he took hold of Iron Man's arm and threw him towards the ground. The jets in his boots not having enough time to respond he landed face first, the clank of metal against the hard concrete floor sounding as painful as it was. He went to get up but a foot was planted on his back. Then out of nowhere Thor shouted out.

"Enough!" His hammer slammed down onto the ground, his own lightning spewed from the ground and sky, shaking the earth. Tony felt a sudden jolt, the pain ripped through his form but from the fact that the cyborg had staggered away meant he had felt it to. Everyone clambered to their feet, even Hulk seemed a little sluggish. The fight went to resume but a pained shout from the bat to get to cover sent the Avengers opposition in different directions. The Avengers all noticed at once, the Mother Box they had been fighting over was again vibrating, the lightening from Thor's hammer pulsed on its deep orange metal surface. Having reacted to late, the remaining avengers were unable to find cover when the blast went off. They all hit the ground violently.

* * *

Barry had run as far away as he could before the explosion went off, once it did he returned in seconds. He found Batman and Aquaman behind Wonder Woman and her shield, having been protected from the blast. Cyborg quickly dropped from the sky having flown a safe distance. The Justice League quickly regrouped to find their enemy sprawled out on the battered ground, all unmoving but one. The massive green monster that has once been a man was groaning, his limbs twitching as he was coming round. The Justice League readied their weapons as the green beast lifted its head snarling at them. Out of nowhere Superman came from the sky, his fist crashing against the monsters skull, knocking him out this time. What happened next was a surprise to them all, the green monsters skin began to turn pale peach, his body shrinking dramatically until the man he had once been returned in tattered dark brown trousers.

"Sorry I'm late." Superman apologised, looking round at all he had missed.

"Could have turned up a few minutes earlier." Batman complained as he held his side in discomfort.

"What did they want?" Superman asked his eyes looking over each Avenger one by one.

"Other than the fact that they had an unknown fourth Mother Box with them, no clue."

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **That was so much fun to write, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Im sure the Avengers will have a chance for round two, each character having a chance to fight someone new. I feel sorry for Widow, she had no chance against Wonder Woman :D Tell me who you want to see fight next! Anyway, see you soon.**


	4. Chapter 4, The Truth

With his cowl removed Bruce watched the monitors from the comfort of his chair, bats flapped their wings above, reminding him he was in the cave. On the screens in front of him various information was being displayed at once, Bruce's eyes flicked from screen to screen. The Justice League's new friends had not yet awoken, from cameras in their individual cells Bruce watched them. A gentle hand suddenly rested on his shoulder, he knew who it was immediately.

"Victor has taken interest in the machine." Diana informed Bruce, both their eyes found Iron Man in his cell, laying on his back, you could just see Victor watching him on the other side of the thick glass. "Any luck finding out who they are?"

"It's as if they didn't exist until two hours ago." Bruce sighed, "There's nothing, no records, no photos, their completely off the grid."

"They must have come from somewhere." Diana stated, it was clear she was as puzzled as Bruce. Barry's voice suddenly came into ear shot, with his red cowl in his hand he was busy boasting to Clark and Arthur about his participation in the fight. His words were almost as fast as his feet.

"Barry." Bruce called, the three approached Bruce and Diana. "You arrived before us, did they say anything about what they were doing?" Barry thought for a second, his brain processing his memories at an incredible rate.

"Thinking back on it they seemed confused, at first I thought they were just playing around, acting like they didn't know what the Mother Box was." Barry watched the monitors with everyone else. "Now I'm not so sure."

"it's a long shot but I've got the computer scanning through all surrounding CCTV footage, the lack of cameras in the park itself means were relying on the surrounding buildings." A window then pooped up on one of the large screens, everyone looked at it simultaneously.

"Test results are back, let's see what we're dealing with." Bruce began reading the results.

"The woman is human, apart from an enhanced immune system there's nothing in her blood or scans to show any other abilities." The others listened closely as Bruce went down the list. "No surprise here, the scrawny guy able to turn into the big green has some anomalies in his blood, apparently similar to the blond with the shield." Both blood samples results appeared on the screen highlighting the similarities.

"You think he can grow all big and green to?" Barry asked.

"Don't think so, big green's blood seems to be a different strand of mutation. Also, I think we would have seen him show his true colours by now."

"What about the other blond, the one with the hammer." Clark asked, no words described the shock he felt when he couldn't even move Thor's hammer, let alone lift it.

"Again, there's something strange about his blood but also his DNA. It's as if he's alien."

"Might had a relative Clark." Arthur joked, patting Clark on the shoulder.

"And the so call machine, isn't just a machine." Bruce opened up Iron Man's file. "Scans show there's a man inside that amour."

"Explains Victor's interest." Diana rested her elbow on Bruce's chair.

"Well the fact that this 'metal man' has an unknown technology actually imbedded in his chest, is enough to get me wanting a closer look." Bruce replied, leaning back in his chair.

* * *

Victor continued to scan the unconscious Iron Man, he had already deduced from their previous fight that the glowing circle in his amour was the power source, not just for the amour, but for the man inside. He could see the small shards of metal in his heart, the power source acting as some kind of magnet. What had surprised him the most was that the power source seemed to be self-sustaining, something he had only seen before in the Mother Boxes and his own enhancements. Victor noticed the man's heart rate and brain activity increase, he was waking up. Victor watched the amour move, intrigued with the technology.

"At first I thought you were like me." Victor told the stranger as he sat up.

"Made of metal?" Tony asked in reply, his voice strained as he clutched his chest.

"Enhanced by the Mother Box."

"The box, it did this to you?" Tony questioned, the scientist in him wanting answers. Victor nodded.

"One of them." He watched Iron Man struggle to his feet, the light in his chest flickered, his heart rate slowed.

"If the Mother Box didn't do this to you, what did?"

"I did." Tony replied, still clutching his chest. Victor went to ask another question when movement in the cell on the left of Tony's caught his attention, he slowly walked in front of the other glass fronted cell, the three other walls solid grey concrete. Steve seemed to come around better than Tony, he was on his feet his eyes first found his brown leather jacket laid next to him, leaving him in just his grey t-shirt. His eyes then found Victor.

"Who are you?" Victor asked, information all he was looking for.

"Steve Rogers." Victor was surprised with his instant answer.

"We found anomalies in your blood, your enhanced, were you exposed to the Mother Box?" Victor had easily hacked into the caves computer; the results were integrated into his memory.

"The box didn't do this to me, an old friend did." Victor kept an eye on his heart rate, making sure he wasn't lying, he was surprised when he registered sadness in his eyes. "We're not your enemy." Steve added, taking a step towards the glass.

"Cap I don't think they care." Tony told him from his own cell.

"Tony let me handle this." Steve ordered. Tony gasped sarcastically.

"Cap, you've just exposed my secret identity!"

"Tony, you couldn't keep your mouth shut for more than a week that you were Iron Man." Steve argued with the wall.

"What can I say I'm-" Tony suddenly hissed in pain. The sound of metal clanking against the floor made Victor investigate.

"Tony?!" Steve called from his own cell. Victor found Tony on one knee still clutching his hand over the blue flickering light in his chest.

"I'm fine." Tony lied. "You know I can feel explosions through my amour right." Victor was curious with the fact that Tony would keep his worsening condition a secret, it was clear to Victor that there was something wrong with the technology in his chest.

"You know I'm going to kick your ass when we get out of here right." Natasha's voice sounded from the other cell next to Steve. Victor found her rubbing her stomach in discomfort.

"Your painkillers are wearing off." Victor told her before returning to Steve. "What do you want?" He simply asked him.

"To find out where the hell we are and somehow get home."

"Language." Tony mocked, Victor watched Steve roll his eyes and sigh.

"You were in Metropolis, your now in Gotham."

"We don't know where we are because were not from this Earth, that Mother Box brought us here." Tony explained from his cell.

"That's impossible." Batman suddenly stepped from the shadows, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Superman just behind him. Thor and Bruce woke up almost simultaneously, their cells on the other side of Tony's. Banner clutched his stretched tattered trousers as he stood, while Thor launched to his feet.

"It's not impossible, it just happened." Tony argued.

"Tell me why there's no record of you lot even existing until a few hours ago." Bruce ordered.

"You've just proved my point." Tony said as he leaned over in agony, the others sensed Tony was in pain, the mechanical tone in his voice not hiding it from them.

"Tony?" Banner now asked.

"I'm fine." He repeated, still he remained on one knee clutching his chest in pain. Unlike the other Avengers, the Justice League could visibly see that something was wrong.

Batman took a step towards Tony's cell. "Most likely a parallel universe." Tony continued, he could finely feel the stabbing feeling in his chest easing off, allowing him to get back on his feet. "The Mother Box brought us here… Somehow." The Justice League starred him down, not believing him.

"There's an easy way to see if you're telling the truth." Diana said, taking her lasso from her belt.

"We only speak the truth." Thor's fist slammed against the glass, his impatience getting the best of him.

"Thor calm down." Natasha called from the other side of the cells.

"Which one you want to tie up?" Arthur laughed, making Clark crack a smile. "He's the most talkative." Arthur said, looking right at Tony.

"The lasso won't work through his amour." Diana told them.

Clark suddenly stepped forward till he was past Victor and Bruce and right in front of Tony's cell.

"You want us to believe you, take of your amour and cooperate."

"I've been told I don't play well with others."

"Tony take the damn amour off." Natasha shouted again from her cell. The Justice League watched as the suit opened up and a man stepped out, the amour closed up behind him, finally letting the Justice League put a face to the voice.

"Happy?" Tony gestured to himself. "You disabled the amours weapons anyway, would love to know how."

"Open the cell." Diana told Bruce, Batman complied and the glass slid down into the ground.

"Step away from the amour." Clark ordered, Tony put his hands up mockingly before exiting the cell.

"You know it doesn't work without this right?" Tony pointed as his arc reactor before Clark took Tony's arm. The Avengers watched in silence.

"if you're telling the truth you'll do this willingly." Diana told him as she approached, she then offered him one end of her lasso. Tony smiled at her before taking it in his hand, the rope turned a bright burning yellow and he scrunched his eyes in discomfort. "Who are you?"

"Anthony Edward Stark." Tony never meant to say his full name, but his lips seemed to move for him.

"Why are you here?

"We were brought here by the Box." The Justice League looked at each other, Bruce looked at Barry surprised he had managed to keep his mouth shut for so long.

"How?"

"The scans I ran on the Mother Box might have triggered a reaction." Tony had wanted to say, 'No idea' but other words left his mouth.

"Are you a threat to us or this planet?"

"No." Tony grunted, the lasso wasn't causing him that much pain, his chest however irradiated agony. The hole burned into the man's top revealed the arc reactor, the beaming blue light it had once been again now a dying flicker. With Tony's back to his team mates they hadn't yet noticed but Tony's eyes suddenly rolled back into his head and his legs gave out from under him. Clark still having hold of his arm gently lowered him to the ground.

"Tony!" Steve cried, banging on the glass.

"What did you do to him!?" Banner shouted, as distressed as the other Avengers.

"My lasso didn't do this." Diana informed them, attaching the lasso back to her belt. That's when Natasha noticed the arc reactor.

"You see that thing in his chest." Natasha shouted. "It shouldn't be doing that, he will die if that light goes out." Victor listened to her closely, he kneeled by the dying man.

"Thor get us out of here." Steve commanded. Thor without hesitation put his hand out in front of him, a few moments past and suddenly Mjölnir burst from the wall before colliding with the glass and then slamming to the ground. A series of deep cracks had formed in the glass but it had not shattered.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Because you guys are amazing thought I give you a nice big chapter, Im having way to much fun writing this fic anyway. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, bit of Tony whump here and there. Please leave a review, let me know I'm doing something right :P See you soon.**


	5. Chapter 5, To Trust Another

"The arc reactor needs a burst of energy, for some reason its losing power." Banner was trying to keep calm, counting to ten in his head. He could feel Hulk clawing at the surface of his consciousness, he pushed him back knowing Tony needed Bruce Banner more than big green. The thumping sound of Thor's fist colliding with the glass of his cell rang in everyone's ears "It needs an electrical charge passed through the element in the reactor, which will then hopefully allow power to circulate again. It will be like hitting the reset button." Banner watched Tony's limp body on the floor, Clark and Victor kneeling at his side as the now dim blue light of the reactor threatened to go out. Tony was finding it harder and harder to breath.

"How big of a charge?" Barry finally spoke up. Thor had ceased his assault on the glass of his cell.

"Enough to restart the arc reactor but not enough to stop his heart." Banner replied so quickly almost cutting Barry off at the end. Victor took action having finally calculated the precise charge needed to reset the arc reactor. He placed his hand over the rapidly flickering light in Tony's chest. Victor could feel the electrical charge growing in his own chest, before shooting down his arm and expelling from his metal hand. Tony gasped painfully, his back arched as his reactor burst with life. Steve and Natasha were leaning on their glass, Thor paced slightly, while Banner had his hands on the top of his head. Tony's back slammed back into the ground as he breathed heavily, Bruce then kneeled by Clark putting two fingers to Tony's neck

"Heart rate steady." Bruce announced.

"Arhh..." Tony groaned. "That sucked."

"There's structural damage inside the reactor, this is only a quick fix." Victor told Tony quietly, making sure the other Avengers wouldn't hear.

"I know." Tony coughed, scrunching his eyes in discomfort, each breath felt like a dagger in his chest.

"Do you trust us now?" Steve asked, his eyes still locked on Tony who remained on the floor.

"That lasso of yours get you the answers you wanted?" Tony added, finally starting to catch his breath.

"Put him back in his cell." Bruce suddenly said rising to his feet and disappearing off into the cave, Barry looked around at the others before following him, Arthur not seeing any more use of his presence also turned and left.

"Easy!" Steve growled as Clark lifted Tony to his feet, Victor rose off his knee watching Clark lead Tony back to his cell. Once back in his cell Diana raised the glass wall before also leaving, Clark followed quickly behind just leaving Victor. He watched Tony put his back to the left wall and slide down till he reached the floor.

"Tony what happened?" Steve asked now leaning against the wall he shared with Tony's cell.

"The arc reactor was damaged by the box, when we woke up round that thing the reactor was losing power"

"And you didn't think it important to share this information!" Steve shouted, Tony didn't grace him with a response. Victor watched intrigued as Tony began messing with his reactor, he was surprised when he suddenly pulled the device from his chest revealing a few wires attached to the end that delved deep into his chest. Banner noticed Victor watching him so closely.

"Tony what are you doing, you're not getting back in your amour are you?"

"Nope, that would strain the reactor leading to it giving out sooner." Tony explained as he examined the arc reactors wiring, the bright blue light shining on his face and hands. "However, I do need to find out why the arc reactor is failing, the scans I took in my amour showed there's a faulty connection"

"Tony if you're thinking of doing what I think you're going to do, don't." Banner warned.

"Already doing it."

"Tony the one thing keeping you alive just stopped working, do you really think messing around with it now is the best idea?" Steve didn't realise as he slid his back down the wall, that he was now back to back with Tony.

"If I don't mess with it, I won't be able to fix it and it will stop working anyway." Tony explained. "I can't see the wiring in my chest but there's no fault with the wiring connected to the reactor." He mumbled to himself. "Has to be a circuit issue, the elements energy isn't being processed properly."

"Your right." Victor announced crossing his arms. "The electrical charge sent through your reactor allowed a large amount of energy to bypass the small break in the circuit, as if jumping a bridge." Victor explained, Tony didn't seem to be listening as he continued to fiddle with the reactor. "Every now and then some energy makes it over the break but the reactor is constantly losing power little by little, until resulting in the flickering. At that stage, you can physically see the energy jumping over the break in the circuit." Victor looked over the scans he taken of the arc reactor in his mind. "At the moment, there's enough excess energy from the reset to give you time, every second the rectors losing power and that break in the circuit is growing bigger."

Steve got back onto his feet approaching the glass he addressed Victor.

"let us out of here, let us help him." Victor didn't respond instead he turned and walked away like the others.

* * *

"The lasso forces the truth out of anyone, he didn't lie." Diana argued, Bruce and Barry had again taken of their cowls. Bruce had taken up residence in the computers chair, having turned it round to face the others. Diana stood beside him, while Arthur and Barry sat beside each other on a large grey create. Clark stood leaning against a support beam.

"We don't know who these people are, for all we know on their world their wanted criminals."

"They're not a threat." Diana thought back, knowing the truth the lasso will always reveal.

"Their telling the truth, they're not a threat." She repeated.

"I don't call a magic lasso proof." Bruce's opinion clearly wasn't going to sway, not without more than a magical rope as proof.

"You want proof, there's your proof." Victor suddenly joined the group, he pointed to the screens behind Bruce, he turned to find the CCTV footage he had left the computer searching for. From multiple angles, it showed the Avengers appearing out of thin air after a flash of deep blue light.

"That just proves the Mother Box brought them here." Bruce pointed out.

"I believe them." Barry spoke up. "If you know, you wanted to know my opinion." Barry awkwardly smiled.

"As do I." Diana added.

"Bruce they're not our enemy." Victor then said, all eyes were suddenly on Arthur and Clark.

"I think we have a right to be weary, who knows what passes for right and wrong on their world." Arthur argued, his face even slightly distorted with anger.

"What's that supposed to mean." Clark stopped leaning against the wall.

"Calm down, I'm just saying we don't know who these people are."

"Then maybe you should get to know them." Clark began walking away.

"Where are you going?" Diana called after him.

"I'm late for a meeting at the daily planet, I'll be back soon." The others watched as he walked over to the lift, only continuing the conversation when he was out of sight.

"Bruce." Dina turned to him.

"No" He replied immediately, spinning his chair round so he faced the computer.

"Keep their weapons." Diana span Bruce back round on the chair. "Put the cave on lockdown and let them out, we need more allies. You yourself spoke of finding others."

"She has a point." Barry added nervously, not sure he should have said anything. Bruce sat for a second, looking around at the others. Again he turned round in his chair, this time he inserted a password into the computer. Out of nowhere a thick wall of metal slid over the lift, the sound of metal clanking and things moving echoed around the cave, the computer itself now only showed a single screen asking for the password to disable the lockdown.

"Fine." Bruce reluctantly agreed, as he looked up at Diana he could see Arthur shaking his head disapprovingly in the corner of his eye.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all sorry for the cliff hanger last time, hope this one wasn't as bad. Just wanted to say if I get facts wrong about characters or how they work, all I can do is apologies for my mistake and I would more than be happy to listen and learn a new thing or two. Also if you have a conflicting opinion on something I have wrote I am also happy to listen and have a friendly discussion over it :P Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you soon.**


	6. Chapter 6, New Friends

Barry had run off as soon as Bruce agreed, in a spark of blue he was at the controls to the cells. He was then in front of Tony's cell before it even started opening. He stared in amazement at the Iron Man amour as the glass wall slowly slid into the floor, his eyes flashed between the amour and Tony's astonished gaze as he held his arc reactor in his hand. Tony just looked up at the black-haired kid, while his hands put his reactor back in his chest.

"Love the colours." Barry complimented, his eyes glistened with joy as he appeared next to the suit. Tony blinked a few times, the sudden gleam of lightning blurring his vison for a second. "Barry Allan." Barry then materialized in front of Tony offering his hand, he slowly accepted it and was pulled to his feet.

"Tony Stark." Tony replied as the kid smiled awkwardly, the kid still having hold of his hand.

"Flash!" Bruce and the others rushed over, Bruce's identity again masked by his cowl.

"What, you said to trust them?"

"Not with your identity." Bruce scowled. The other Avengers had taken a few steps out of their cells, Thor went to retrieve his hammer when a look from Steve told him otherwise.

"Why not?" Diana questioned walking past Bruce towards Natasha. "We want them to trust us." Diana smiled putting her hand out to Natasha. "Diana of Themyscira." Natasha looked at the woman who had attacked her only a few hours ago, the pain in her stomach still present.

"Natasha Romanoff." Natasha replied not shaking Diana's hand. Diana dropped her hand, understanding Natasha's wariness. Bruce watched the scrawny scientist approach him, the small man clutched his stretched trousers with one hand.

"Banner, Bruce Banner." Like the others he held out his hand. After a few awkward moments, he took the man's hand, while simultaneously pulling off his cowl with the other.

"Bruce Wayne." He replied with a sense of pride in his voice. Banner smiled, adjusting his glasses after shaking his hand. Bruce was surprised with Banner's lack of reaction, his identity normally triggering a response from most.

Steve had gone straight to Tony, the sight of him hitting the floor and being unable to do anything still plagued his mind. After checking on one of the billionaires in the room, he turned to see Thor shake hands and exchange names with Victor. Arthur stood a fare distance away, just observing.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot." Steve stated, as him and Tony exited the cell, leaving Barry slowly circling the amour. "We just want to figure out a way to get back to our Earth."

"And you think the Mother Box is the key?" Victor asked.

"It brought us here, it should be able to take us back." Banner responded. Steve noticed Tony's hand go to his chest, even though his reactor was not yet flickering.

"Tony, you alright?" Steve asked, full well knowing he wasn't.

"I will be when we get home." Tony forced a smile.

"The Mother Box is over here" Bruce led the others through the cave, not wanting to waste any more time.

* * *

The Mother Box sat in the middle of table. Easily deceiving with its simplistic shape and look, hiding the power that resided within the metal.

"You mentioned you where scanning it when it transported you here, what were you scanning it for?" Bruce questioned, his eyes fixated on the Mother Box as if it was about to pounce like a wild animal.

"It's transmitting and receiving a signal, I was just analysing and attempting to track it." Tony told Bruce, the Avengers gathered on one side of the table, Diana, Bruce and Victor stood on the other. Barry was too busy drooling over the Iron Man amour, while Arthur remained at a distance. "My guess is the location of the signal that the Mother Box is receiving, is the same location its transmitting to."

"What signal?" Victor asked what Bruce was about to. "We analysed the Mother Box when we brought it here, there has been no single, transmitted or received."

"It's been dormant since your friend's lightning triggered a reaction." Bruce added, giving Thor a quick glance.

"Thor, son of Odin." Thor bellowed, his name holding much honour to most who know him.

"Good for you." Bruce said before returning to the problem at hand. "If it was transmitting a signal before why isn't it now?"

"What if the signals location was your world?" Tony deduced. "What if something on your Earth transmitted a signal to the Mother Box which resulted in it accidently bringing us here." Tony's brain was running at a mile a minute, helping keep his mind of the dying arc reactor in his chest. "I don't think we were meant to be brought here, I think we were just along for the ride." Tony was slightly relieved that he might have not been the causes of their sudden trip to a parallel universe.

"Explains why the Mother Box didn't take us back when it realised that explosion of energy again." Banner added rubbing his chin with one hand as he raked his brain for answers.

"The question is what brought the Mother Box here in the first place."

"Or who." Diana turned to Bruce, the same thought running through both their heads.

"Arthur." Bruce turned, Arthur remained where he was, lingering in the shadows. "When was the last time you visited Atlantis?"

"The Mother Box is safe Bruce, it's in a highly secure location only known to a few." Arthur replied slightly insulted with Bruce's lack of faith. "I would have been informed if there was any concern." Arthur didn't seem at all worried compared to Bruce but thanks to their exchange it was now clear to the Avengers there was still, to no surprise, something being kept from them.

"There's more than one of these things?" Steve questioned folding his arms in annoyance.

"There's four in total, we only knew of three until today." Diana briefed them, to Bruce's annoyance.

"Why are the other three locked up, what are these Mother Boxes capable of?" Natasha spoke up, she again had kept quite taking in all the information until she figured it was time to act. To her, information was power. Natasha locked eyes with Bruce, almost attempting to force the answers from him. The tension in the room was suddenly shattered when Barry appeared at the head of the table, his lightning flicked around dangerously near the Mother Box.

"You have to show me how your suit works!" Barry's eyes were wild with excitement, he locked eyes with Tony. However, their attention was quickly drawn to the Mother Box, a spark of lightning had taped the surface bringing it to life, just for a moment. Dark blue light seeped from its seams long enough to make everyone jump back. Only after a few more seconds did everyone settle.

"Barry, you need to be careful, you know it absorbs energy!" Bruce shouted at the kid, the energy in his face and eyes suddenly vanished and embarrassment took over.

"I didn't think-"

"Well next time just think for a second, you could have blown us all up!" Bruce cut Barry off.

"Hay!" Steve barked. "Go easy on the kid." The room went silent. The silence was only broken when a sudden alert sound came from the computer, it was demanding the password to view an incoming message. Bruce rushed over knowing what it was, he rapidly typed in the long password unlocking the computer. A screen then flashed up, a security alert appeared in big red bold letter.

"There's been a break in at one of Wayne Enterprises advanced tech warehouses." Bruce addressed his team members, almost forgetting the Avengers were there.

"That can't be a coincidence?" Tony mumbled to Steve, straight away his own tech company, Stark Industries came to mind.

"The security personnel and cameras are down, we need to move." Bruce shot up out his chair and snatched up his cowl from the side.

"What, all of us?" Arthur questioned.

"No. You, Diana and Victor with me. Barry, you stay here with…" Bruce paused, looking over at the Avengers. "Our guests."

"Wait why? I can get there faster than any of you." Barry's words where so fast his lips almost tripped on the sounds.

"Because I said so!" The cold tone in Bruce's voice bounced off the walls of the cave, all eyes were on him, he didn't care. Diana wanted to intervene but Bruce seemed to be finding it hard to step down as a leader and now wasn't the time to fight for authority. "Diana get Clark to meet us there." Bruce ordered as he made his way to the large ship that sat in a hanger, deeper into the cave. The Justice League didn't move, "Come on!" Bruce called for his team, Victor and Arthur followed, while Diana gave Barry one last supporting look before also leaving.

"Cap, I'm surprised you didn't offer a helping hand." Tony turned to Steve, truly surprised the solider hadn't jumped at the chance to help their new friends.

"They look more than capable of handling themselves, you on the other hand." Tony noticed Steve quickly take a look at his arc reactor.

"Look, I just need to run a few tests and I'll now exactly where the break in the circuit is."

"Tony there's no way of you even attempting to repair the arc reactor without taking it apart." Banner stepped in, realising the few options Tony had.

"You got a car battery round here?" Tony kept eye contact with Steve even though his question was directed at Barry, when he didn't reply he looked over at the skinny kid.

"Err, yes?" Barry stammered, for someone who was so fast the question caught him off guard.

"Perfect." Tony smiled even though inside he knew the risks, and it was nothing to be smiling about.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, I have to say I don't think this chapter was very good. I think it was slow and boring but I'm too lazy to rewrite it. What do you think? Anyway I will see you soon with a better chapter hopefully.**


	7. Chapter 7, The Reckless Genius

Barry placed the large black car battery down on the table next to Tony, who was busy removing his arc reactor from his chest. Barry had taken them to Bruce's work shop, not far away from the main computer. You could even still see the main computer and Mother Box sat peacefully on the table close by, thanks to the open style of the cave.

"Tony this isn't a good idea." Banner cautioned as Barry approached him, he held a dark green hoodie and a pair of black jeans. He offered the clothing to Banner, the kid smiled, knowing the colour of the hoodie was a bit of a coincidence. Banner took them graciously and tugged them on, he was much happier now he was fully clothed.

"Are you going to keep moaning or are you gonna give me a hand?" Tony asked, his eyes scanning the reactor in his hand. Steve, Natasha and Thor watched on nervously as Tony began to take apart his arc reactor. Using the small tools Barry had provided, he pried off the front of the reactor, revealing the triangular element.

"I can't help if you won't tell me what you're doing." Banner commented, taking a seat on the other side of the table.

"I'm going to remove the element and power the reactor with the battery instead." Tony blurted as if it wasn't a big deal. The beaming blue light of the element glistened in his eyes.

"What?!" Natasha shouted in protest. Only knowing it was a bad idea through her reaction, Steve grew more concerned.

"I need to be able to control the amount of power that runs through the reactor, by minimalizing the power I will be able to see where the break in the circuit is." Thor seemed taken back by it all, Tony's words as confusing as ever.

"That would work." Barry confirmed leaning on the table, his eyes just like Tony's on the arc reactor.

"I know, that's why I'm doing it." Tony responded, motioning for Banner to hold his reactor. He reluctantly reached out and held what was technically Tony's heart, in his hand. He carefully cradled the device, his fingers wrapped around the metal heart, making sure not to tug on the wire that led deep into Tony seemingly hollow chest. Now with his hands free Tony began to prepare the car battery, he removed one side of the box before ripping three wires from inside.

"Why can't you just do the scans without messing with the reactor?" Steve queried, a horrible feeling was building in his stomach.

"At the moment, there is too much energy passing through the reactor, the scans can't pick up where the break in the circuit is." Tony reluctantly explained, his mind busy elsewhere. "By reducing the power, the scans will be able to see it."

"How are you going to scan it?" Banner was getting more stressed with Tony's plan with each passing second.

"I was hoping, that's where our new friend comes in." Tony looked up at Barry, the kid became startled with everyone's attention now on him.

"Bruce hasn't shown me how to use the computer." Barry looked around at the group of concerned faces, all but Tony of course, who was burying his worry. "But It can't be that hard to figure out." Barry smiled, he vanished in a streak of lightning and appeared over by the large computer on the other side of the large room, his hands moved so fast they were a blur as Barry easily accessed the computer. Tony still worked on the car battery, he also worked fast, easily modifying the battery to allow him to control its power output. The others watched as he worked, he was almost done when Barry returned.

"Scanners are ready and there locked on the reactor." Barry put his hands on his hips proud of his work.

"Nice one kid." Tony complimented as he finished his modifications to the car battery. "Bruce, I'm going to remove the element and these wires need to be attached to three small metal pins under where the element sits." Bruce listened closely, the way Tony was speaking slowly and clearly made it obvious this was serious. "Normally I would be able to do this with my eyes shut but this is fiddly work and I'll be practically dying when the element is removed, so I need you on standby if something happens."

"Tony, I don't know about this." Steve expressed his overwhelming concern. Tony didn't respond instead he took the reactor from Bruce and held it in one hand. Tony proceeded to pull the bright glowing blue element from the reactor with tweezers, he immediately felt his heart skip a beat as he started to feel himself fading. He gently put the element down on the table and took one of the first three wires in his free hand. The others watched holding their breath as Tony's shaking hand attached the first wire. His fingers fumbled for the second wire but he soon gripped it between two fingers, however he couldn't quite attach the wire. Tony slouched, his eye lids wanting to close. Fresh sweat began to form on his forehead. He didn't even notice that he had swayed, almost falling off his chair. Steve had a tight grip on his now weak arms, he held him up right as someone took the reactor from his hand. Tony felt the reactor's wire tug slightly as someone pulled the reactor too far.

"Tony?!" The voice sounded far off in the distance. He could feel someone's fingers on his neck. Suddenly he gasped, his eyes shot open, he didn't even notice they had slipped closed.

He found Banner clutching the reactor with one hand, while helping Barry mess around with the car battery.

"Tony can you hear me?" The sweet tone of Natasha's voice failed to calm his heart, which was panicking as shrapnel edged closer. Tony only found himself nodding in reply.

* * *

"Take the scan, hurry!" Banner shouted, the reactor was on but barely. "He's set the battery to the lowest power output, I can't change it." Barry flashed over to the computer.

"The scan takes a minute." Barry announced. Thor watched on helpless, he watched as Steve held Tony up right, his head resting on the captain's arm. Banner was busy trying to reverse what Tony had done to the car battery, while Natasha had two fingers to Tony neck, keeping an eye on his heart rate as the genius started to have trouble breathing.

"Banner put the element back in!" Natasha ordered. Having had no luck with the battery, Banner went to retrieve the glowing triangle resting on the table with the tweezers.

"Wait!" Barry cried, the others were taken back for a second with the strange authority in his voice. "Just a few more seconds." Barry's eyes were locked on one of the screens in front of him. Banner looked to Cap, looking for his leader to give him a command.

"Just a few more seconds." Steve decided, hoping Tony knew what the hell he was doing. The seconds passed painfully until Barry called out.

"It's done!" Banner ripped the wires from the reactor and put the element back in its rightful place, the reactor flickered before beaming with a blue light once again. The exposed element seemed to even pulse for a second along to the rhythm of Tony's fretting heart.

"Tony what the hell were you thinking." Steve wanted to punch the man he held in his arms, his recklessness frustrating.

"Did it work?" Tony mumbled catching his breath.

"Scan is clear." Barry revealed from over by the computer. Banner had already put the faceplate back on the reactor as Tony was finally able to sit up by himself. Steve squeezed his arms before letting go. He handed the arc reactor back to Tony, trusting him to put it back in his chest. With it back where it belonged Tony sighed, knowing the fight was not yet over. He was still slowly dying, he could only hope the scan revealed something he could repair. The odds weren't in his favour. Tony wiped the sweat from his face and stupidly forced himself to his feet, this time Thor was there to catch him when he stumbled.

"Thanks Point Break" Tony said patting the god of thunder on the arm. Still shaky on his feet he made his with way over with the others to the computer, where Barry waited. The scan that had been take of the arc reactor was displayed on one of the many screens, all the inner workings of Tony's heart were shown in detail.

"There." Barry pointed at the screen. Following his finger, the Avengers who had not yet seen it, found the break in the circuit. In the heart of the reactor you could clearly see the power jumping the gap.

"Looks like there was a surge, burned part of the circuit away." Tony rubbed his forehead, a headache coming on, he purposely avoided clutching his chest that ached. "Not good." Tony sighed, this wasn't going to be an easy fix.

"What's the plan?" Steve turned to his friend, his technical terms as confusing as ever. Tony didn't answer, his eyes fell from the screen to the floor. "What's the plan?" Steve pushed.

"I don't know!" Tony snapped, unwillingly his hand clutched his chest. The Avengers stood in shock. The man who had all the answers, had nothing.

"Tony there must be something we-"

"There's nothing!" Tony exploded, his eyes wild as he stared around at the scared, worried faces in front of him. "There's nothing." He mumbled, his gaze returning to the floor. Silence almost as painful as Tony's head and heart lingered for too long.

"A binding agent." Barry whispered to himself, the words only meant to be said in his head.

"What?" Banner turned to the kid.

"A binding agent, a small amount passed through the core of the reactor would fill the break."

"It wouldn't hold." Tony shot down the idea immediately, every possible idea he had already run through his head. "The reactors power output is to strong."

"Not if the binding agent was laced with liquid titanium." Tony looked up at Barry, leaning slightly on the computer chair.

"The compounds wouldn't fuse, it wouldn't work."

"Of course, they would fuse." Barry seemed confused with Tony's remark. "With an electrical pulse the compounds would fuse easily."

"That's only a concept, it's never been proven." Banner replied. Natasha was as lost as Steve and Thor at this point, it was as if the three were talking in another language.

"In our universe." Tony realised, Bruce and Tony's eyes found each other. Excitement, amazement and pure wonder covered their faces.

"That's so cool." Barry was struggling to hold in his own excitement.

"What's going on?" Steve asked for him and the other confused minds in the room.

Barry jumped at the opportunity to explain.

"On your universe, there is a theory about compound bonding, here it's a reality." Barry smiled uncontrollably. The moment was suddenly interrupted by the computer, an alert sound rang from speakers around the cave.

"Its Batman, he sent a distress signal." Barry was about to run off when Thor took his arm.

"Bat-who?" Tony smiled mockingly.

"Err Bruce, Bruce Wayne." Barry replied frantically, looking around the room for his red cowl.

"And Iron Mans any better" Natasha said noticing Tony smiling.

"What's happened?" Steve asked Barry, trying to get everyone back on track.

"I don't know it's just a distress signal, my friends need me."

"let us help" Steve offered, Thor still held onto the kids arm. Tony rolled his eyes, knowing Steve was going to offer their help sooner or later.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, I really enjoyed writing this chapter hope you enjoyed reading it. On a friendly note, I am completely prepared for some** **critisim but please make it constructive, I cant make my story better if you won't tell me why something is wrong XD. Anyway see you soon.**


	8. Chapter 8, Somethings Not Quite Right

Batman had easily found his way into his own warehouse, leading the others through the maze of empty corridors before emerging in the main warehouse. The white lights beamed above revealing the extent of the contents of the warehouse, containers were stacked to the ceiling on large metal shelfs. The massive warehouse was fully stocked. They made their way slowly down one of the aisles.

"Where is everyone?" Diana questioned, Arthur and Victor examined their surroundings remaining alert.

"Did you contact Clark?" Bruce questioned, his concern not on where the missing workers had gone.

"I didn't see the need." Diana admitted. Bruce stopped in his tracks, causing the others to do the same. With his black cape draped over his back, it almost made him look like an out of place shadow in the well-lit surroundings. Again, Diana didn't see this the right time to lay down her authority, authority Bruce had given her but at this point he had forced her hand. "The threat can't be that great, we have no clue what's going on or why this warehouse is so important. You also left Barry behind." Bruce ignored her and attempted to contact Clark via his communicator.

"Signals being jammed, explains why the authorities haven't responded to the automated security system."

"What was that?" Arthur raised voice caught everyone attention, everyone spun round, Bruce almost getting caught up in his cape. Everyone's eyes followed Arthur's who stared through a small gap in the shelfing, revealing only the other aisles and containers.

"No life signs." Victor reported, having quickly scanned the area.

"I saw something." Arthur argued, the look on the others face showed disbelief. He pushed passed Bruce making his way down the aisle to locate what he saw, Bruce did well to hide the stinging pain in his shoulder that Arthur had caused by colliding with it. Diana followed after Arthur, giving a Bruce a look he knew all too well. Through her eyes she simply told him, 'quit the shit.'

* * *

Steve pulled his harness onto his back, it felt good to have his shield returned to him. In the corner of his eye he saw Tony walking back over to the cells, where the Iron Man amour stood.

"Tony!" Steve shouted rushing over to the man. Barry was at Tony's side and had been cut off half way through a sentence when Steve shouted. "What are you doing?" He asked as Tony and Barry approached the amour.

"What do you think?" Tony replied annoyed with Steve's now overwhelming concern.

Tony kneeled by his armour, tilting his head as he twisted a small handle on the amours right thigh. The amour opened up and he stepped in before Steve could do anything. The arc reactors light beamed brightly, not yet flickering as the amour powered up and closed around him.

"Reserve power in the motors." Barry said out loud, having answered a question in his head.

"Keeps the amour up right and able to open without the arc reactor." Tony's replied, his golden faceplate remained down.

"Tony from what I understand, your reactor, it can't take the strain of the amour."

"And Thor can't carry everyone." Tony walked out the cell, Barry's eyes glistened, truly amazed by the machinery. "Banner we're gonna need you on standby." Tony told him as they made their way to the lift. Natasha had her guns strapped back to her thighs, like Steve having her weapons back gave her a sense of comfort. Everyone stepped onto the lift, each still trying to get over everything that happened in such a short time. It's not every day you get transported to a parallel universe.

"Kid we don't know where we're going, so don't run off." Steve informed Barry.

"Try to keep up." He smiled pulling on his red cowl. As the lift began to rise Thor quickly stretched out his hand, Barry's jaw dropped to the floor for the second time when Mjölnir flew across the cave and into Thor's hand.

* * *

Tony dropped Steve a meter off the ground, while Thor lowered Banner gently before touching the floor himself. Barry and Natasha were already there, they had followed the streak of lightening to the warehouse near the edge of the city.

"What's a warehouse like this doing all the way out here?" Steve questioned. Natasha stayed quite still recovering from the run over, she had been reluctant at first to trust the kid to carry her, but accepted the lift in the end. Tony's metal boots clanked as they hit the ground.

"Most likely stores some high-end weaponry." All eyes were on Tony. "What, I was in the weapons business."

"Bruce doesn't build weapons." Barry replied as they took a step towards the eerie dark warehouse, the moon had abruptly hidden behind the clouds when they had arrived.

"Sure." Tony replied sceptical, he knew that no one's has that kind of money without getting blood on your hands. It was clear to Tony and the others early on that Bruce Wayne had money.

"Security's down." Barry noticed, his eyes flicked around, taking in every detail.

"Banner you should stay here." Steve ordered more than suggested. "We'll call if we need big green." Banner nodded, relieved almost.

"You're going to have to shout loud, all signals are being blocked in this area." Tony announced.

"Then how did Bruce send the distress signal?" Barry turned to the others, his realisation putting everyone on edge.

"Banner stick close, try not to go green till… Well till shit hits the fan." Tony so elegantly said.

* * *

A silence had fallen over the warehouse, the empty halls and rooms enforced an uneasy feeling building in the pit of everyone's stomach.

"Friday, how's the reactor holding up?" Tony asked his A.I, his words concealed to his amour. The information he had requested appeared on the display in front of his eyes, he pushed back a sigh, closing his eyes for only a moment. "Keep an eye on it." He ordered Friday.

"I could take a quick look around, I would be back in a few seconds." Barry suggested, blue lightning started to erupt around the kid when Thor's hand latched round his arm. The lightning seemed drawn to the god of thunder before dispersing into the air.

"We stick together." Steve commanded. They all suddenly emerged in the main warehouse, the way the place was presented, the cases that stacked the shelfs. It was all too familiar to Tony, his days in the weapons business still plagued his thoughts. They made their way down one of the many aisles, Natasha already had her guns in her hands.

"Arthur!" Barry suddenly shouted, Aquaman had stepped into view at the end of the aisle. Barry this time not being held back ran to his friend. "What happened?" Barry noticed immediately something was wrapped around his friend's neck, a spider like device had its long arms latched tightly around his neck, while the head of the device pierced into his skin. Barry took a step back when Arthur gave no response, his eyes stared almost through him. He turned to the Avengers to find Diana and Victor blocking the other end of the aisle. Bruce then stepped into view and stood beside Arthur. Like Arthur, Bruce had the device wrapped round his neck, the head of the device had punctured through the amour that covered his neck and delved deep into his skin. The same device could also be found around Diana and Victors neck. If the devices around their necks wasn't enough evidence that something was wrong, the red light in Cyborg's chest and eye was no longer red, instead it shined bright green.

"Tony?" Banner questioned, hoping the genius would already be scanning the strange devices. Barry had slowly backed up till he was back with the rest of the group, Natasha, Thor and Banner looked down one end of the isle. While Steve, Tony and Barry looked down the other at Bruce and Arthur. Banner stood in the middle of his friends, neck twisting from one end of the aisle to the other. Steve reached for his shield, something in the eyes of their new friends brought him to do so. Bruce and Arthur suddenly charged, as did Diana and Victor.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, sorry took so long to update, just been very busy with Christmas and New Year. Hope you liked the chapter, I quickly wrote this up in a few hours so I hope it was ok, I normally spend longer on a chapter :P Anyway happy new year and see you guys soon.**


	9. Chapter 9, Sacrifice

Tony raised his hand and the repulsor released a charge, the blast hit Bruce square in the chest knocking him to the ground. Tony thrusted himself forward, the jets in his boots propelling him. Tony attempted to land a blow to the side of Arthur's face, however unlike Bruce he wasn't caught off guard and stepped aside in time. Tony's boots slid across the smooth concrete floor before grinding to a halt, the scraping of metal filled everyone's ears. Arthur went to strike Tony with his trident, Steve snatched it from his hand while simultaneously forcefully kicking Arthur behind the knee. With Arthur's head now waist high, the Captain's shield collided with the Atlantean's head with tremendous force. Steve tossed the weapon aside, and went to land another blow to the dazed Atlantean. His left leg was suddenly snatched up from under him, his head crashed painfully against the cold hard ground. Steve's head shot up, he found a grapple wrapped round his leg, a taught metal cable led back to Bruce. Tony had attempted to come to his aid but Arthur had rose up and pinned him against the shelfing by his throat. Steve brought the sharp edge of shield down onto the cable, slicing through it with ease. He jumped to his feet hurling his shield at Bruce, while Tony freed himself from Arthur's grasp. Metal hands suddenly pushed Steve aside, his eyes followed Mjölnir as it hurtled passed before slamming to the ground.

* * *

Thor stood stunned, he blinked a few times not sure whether his eyes deceived him. Diana had swatted Mjölnir aside with a single swipe of her shield, he raised his hand calling his beloved hammer back to him. Just as his weapon returned to him, gun fire ripped passed his ear. Diana raised her shield immediately, the bullets crashed against it, flattening before dropping to the floor. The sound of the destroyed bullets clinking against the ground seemed deafening.

"No!" Barry shouted, having broken away from his fight with Victor, he was at Natasha's side in a moment, like before Natasha's guns vanished from her hands. Barry held them for a moment, disgusted with how they felt in his grip, he threw them a far distance away. "No guns." Barry insisted, fearing a stray bullet would be the end of someone. Silver metal arms grabbed him from behind, lightening erupted from around the kid before he appeared behind Victor.

"Easy for you to say!" Natasha shouted furiously. She momentarily noticed Banner watching from another aisle, his eyes peered through the shelfing. She recalled how she had watched him scramble through an opening in the shelf when the fight had begun.

"Get down!" Steve suddenly ordered, Thor and Natasha dropped instantaneously. Barry noticed almost too late as Tony shot his powerful unibeam from the arc reactor, directly at the centre of the Captain's shield, who then reflected the blast at both Victor and Diana. Barry watched in slow-motion as the unibeam travelled at an extraordinarily fast rate towards his friends. With the light of the unibeam glistening in his eyes he only just spotted Arthur on the ground reaching for his trident. Thinking fast he went to Arthurs side, kicking the weapon again away from the man. Time returned to normal, Diana had raised her shield and withstood the unibeam. Victor had taken a hit to the arm, the cyborg recoiled but soon was back in the fight. Steve noticed Natasha was now facing off against Victor with nothing more than the tasers she had around her wrists.

"Natasha swap!" The Captain shouted, she heard Steve immediately and sprinted towards him, Steve crouched and held his shield above his head. She jumped at speed onto the shield, she was launched into the air, she went to land a hit on Bruce but he avoided her fist. Natasha rolled into her landing and was soon back on her feet.

Before Steve could even get close to Victor Diana's sword swung wildly at him, Thor proceeded to take Steve's place in fighting Victor, his hammer clanking each time it collided with the cyborg. Steve's shield met with Diana's, their eyes met, she seemed to stare right through him as if she was blind. Her sword then came swinging from the left, he planted his boot on Diana's stomach before shoving her away, the sword sliced viscously through the air.

"Tony got any ideas?!" Steve called, looking over Diana's shoulder he watched Arthur land a decent punch to Tony's golden face plate, the billionaire staggered before dropping to one knee. His arc reactor was flickering slightly. Arthur approached but didn't get a chance to land another hit. Tony propelled by his boot jets plunged his metal fist under Arthur's chin, Tony was amazed when the man only stumbled back leaning against the shelfing to his right.

"The devices seem to be giving off a signal." Tony shouted back, but Arthur was back in the fight. Tony swung wide but Arthur caught his fist, so he swung with his other fist. Arthur's hand latched onto his arm. Warnings suddenly flashed on screen showing Tony he was crushing his amour. Tony having no other choice fired the unibeam, striking Arthur in the chest. He released Tony and his back met the floor, Tony quickly finished the job by punching Arthur directly in the forehead. Tony looked up to find Natasha's boot to Batman's neck, but he latched onto her boot before rolling. Natasha's head crashed against the metal shelfing. She fell to the ground limp, blood poured from a wound on her head. Tony found his breath taken from him. Bruce got to his feet, Tony then simply rose his hand and shot a semi charged repulsor at the back of Bruce's head, the man was launched forward and also hit his head against the shelfing. An ear shattering roar ripped through the warehouse, the Hulk burst through the shelfing. Tony threw himself over Natasha and Bruce, protecting them from falling debris. He felt the heavy creates and metal frame work slam against his back, his chest burned with pain.

* * *

Thor rapidly swung Mjölnir at the robotic man, each time it collided with him it was as if he felt no pain. Their fight was interrupted when the Hulk made his entrance. Hulk now in the fight, snatched up Diana by the leg and slammed her repeatedly into the ground, her shield falling to the ground. Diana still with her sword in hand swung at Hulk. Her blade cut deep into Hulk's arm. The Avengers struggled to believe what they were seeing, the invincible creature, bleeding. Hulk cried out and dropped Diana, clutching his arm his bright green eyes stared confused. Diana lunged at Hulk, blood still on the edge of her blade. Tony got to his feet, his amour growing heavy. His eyes fell on Natasha's unmoving form, he knew what needed to be done. Tony watched Barry crash into Diana knocking her away from Hulk, her blade clattered against the ground. Now unarmed, she brought her silver cuffs down on each other. A blast erupted from them, sending everyone flying back roughly a meter, the shelfs fell away from them, creating a domino effect with all the others. The once confined area was now open and they were surrounded by fallen creates and metal framework. Tony ascended to his feet once more, this time via his boot jets.

"Cap!" Tony called, Steve looked back at Tony, as he clambered to his feet. "Get them home." Steve didn't see but Tony gave a weak smile under his faceplate. Steve had noticed earlier on in the fight, after Tony had used his unibeam, his reactor had been flickering. He couldn't do anything to help his friend. Suddenly a pulse wave erupted from the Iron Man amour, the lights sparked before going off and plunging the warehouse into darkness.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I put to many hours into it, theres most likely still spelling mistakes. Screw you Dyslexia! Would love to know what you think, lord knows my writing and portrayal of these chracters is not perfect. See you next time. (Might be a delay on next chapter, Im very busy with life unfortunately.)**


	10. Chapter 10, Metal Heart

Steve could hear Hulk struggling to change back, but change back he did. Banner's heavy breathing and painful gasps seemed to echo in the darkness. Out of nowhere red lights above revealed the destruction that had ripped through the warehouse. The emergency generators had finally kicked in, brining the red lights above to life, giving Steve his sight back. No one was yet on their feet. Steve found himself crawling over to the unmoving Iron Man amour, the arc reactor no longer flickered. Instead, it shed no light at all.

"Tony!" Steve called, his panicked cry stirred someone behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to find Barry weakly getting to his feet. "Barry, Tony's reactor…" Was all Steve could bring himself to say, the kid rushed over.

"The pulse wave was an EMP, it disabled all electronics in the warehouse, the backup generators must be off sight." Barry's words went straight over Steve's head.

"Barry?" Barry turned recognising the voice, Diana was sat up right. She painfully pried the spider device from around her neck, her face scrunched in pain as the head of the device was wrenched from deep within the skin of her neck. "What's going on?" She dropped the device, looking around confused before approaching, Barry jumped to his feet. The sound of a gun going off was something Steve was all too familiar with. There was a spark as Diana's silver cuff redirected the shot. Steve turned to the origin of the sound, there he found Natasha lying on her side, her gun held weakly in hand. Steve made eye contact with her before she again lost consciousness, he watched her for a moment, making sure she was still breathing. Steve went to turn back to the matter at hand, when painful breaths beside him caught his attention, Barry's face showed confusion as he gripped at his side. Steve reach out as the kid dropped to the floor, catching him in his arms. Blood dripped through the kid's fingers, his hand still over his gunshot wound. Diana was then at his side, snatching the boy from Steve and pulling him onto her lap. Steve sat there in shock, his team scattered around him and Tony either lay dying or was already dead.

"Steve?" Banner moaned, he clutched his bleeding arm, the red lights above made the crimson blood more vibrant. Steve's eyes focused on his friend leaning against a fallen create.

"Tony's reactor, it's not working." Steve didn't know what to do or who to help, his team needed him.

"It needs another shock, like before." Banner coughed, his voice raspy and dry.

"That I can provide." Thor suddenly spoke up, he was on his feet unharmed with Mjölnir in hand.

"Don't overdo it, a small charge." Banner attempted to push himself onto his feet with one arm but fell back against the create in pain. Thor kneeled by Tony, while Diana continued to cradle Barry.

"We need to get back to the cave." Diana glanced over at Bruce, his black cape draped over him like a blanket, as he lay on his front. Arthur seemed to be stirring but had not yet come around. Thor placed his hand over the reactor, before raising Mjölnir above his head. The sky outside grumbled, almost immediately lightning struck through the ceiling hitting the hammer directly. The lightning travelled down Thor's hands, losing charge before it reached his hand, dealing a shock to the reactor. It flickered into life, the light dim. Somewhere behind them Victor suddenly sat up right, he insistently pulled the device from around his neck, the light in his chest and eye red once again. Banner eyes didn't move from Natasha, even when Victor passed him.

"We need to leave." Victor informed, Diana stood with Barry in her arms.

"What happened?" Steve stood as Thor lifted the Iron Man over his shoulder. Diana avoided eye contact while Victor went to Bruce.

"I don't remember." She admitted, Steve could see the frustration of her lack of memory clearly on her face.

* * *

Victor again shocked the reactor, the light from within again returned but it was barely a dim flicker.

"The reactor can no longer circulate power normally, the boost in power I'm providing is now barely enough to get the power over the break." Steve stood by Tony who lay on the table in the centre of the cave, still in his amour and still alive. Steve wasn't sure if he was glad to be back in the cave, the aftermath of the events in the warehouse had just followed them back.

"Barry figured out how to fix the reactor." Steve recalled, this thought brought him to look over at Barry who also lay fighting for his life. They had stripped the boy of his suit and worried hands were battling to remove the bullet from his side. Bruce worked steady under the pressure, it was clear he was ignoring his own injuries. Working through the pain of his bruised ribs he stitched Barry's bullet wound, Diana lingering over his shoulder.

"We need to get him out of the amour." Banner approached, having tied up the waist of his ripped trousers to keep them up, his quickly bandaged arm held against his bare chest. "Roll him onto his front." Steve and Victor complied. The large table in the middle of the cave gave them the space to do this, the medical area still in sight showed Thor watching over Natasha. Arthur lingered nearby watching everything unfold. Using his free hand Banner reach over to Tony's thigh and used the manual amour release, the back opened up and they pulled Tony from the amour. Steve tugged him away from the suit, giving them more room to work.

"We can't fix the reactor, not in time to save him." Banner revealed the horrible truth. "We need to find a way to give him time." Steve suddenly rushed off and retuned with the modified car battery Tony had used earlier. Victor again had to shock Tony's reactor, the man's breathing hitched in pain as his back arched slightly.

"He powered it with this earlier, can't we do the same again?" Steve had never felt so helpless.

"The reactor itself can no longer circulate power, the power source isn't the issue."

Banner clutched his arm as the pain got worse, his eyes fell on the car battery "The arc reactor is technically just an electromagnet, Tony once mentioned how he was saved in Afghanistan with an electromagnet being powered by a car battery." Banner and Steve looked to Victor. "Tell me you have an electromagnet."

"In the workshop." Bruce approached, wiping blood from his hands with a cloth. Victor rushed off, disappearing into the workshop.

"You think this will work?" Bruce asked, his eyes met with Banner's for only a second.

"It has to." Steve replied for him. Victor returned quickly, a small electromagnet in hand. He took the battery from Steve, placing his hand on the metal casing. After a few seconds, his turned his attention to the electromagnet. Wires suddenly extended from his arm and delved into the magnet, it suddenly began to morph growing in size slightly. Without warning he suddenly pulled Tony's reactor from his chest, the snap of the cable being forcefully detached from the plate deep within Tony's chest, sounded just as painful as the man's gasps.

"What are you doing?!" Steve shouted, grabbing the attention of Diana, Thor and Arthur.

"What we agreed on." Victor simply replied as he replaced the reactor with the electromagnet, it perfectly slid into the hole in Tony's chest, Victor having calculated the size and adjusted the magnet. Before he could attach the car battery, Steve's panicked voice caught his attention.

"He's not breathing." Steve looked frantically at Banner and Victor. Banner put his ear over Tony's lips and then put two fingers to his neck.

"His hearts stopped." Banner couldn't even blink as he stared down at his friend. Victor ignored him and quickly attached the battery to the magnet via two wires. Tony still didn't breathe. After a few second of the magnet being powered up, still Tony's heart did not beat, still he refused to breath. Victor quickly calculated what he needed to do, placing both hands on either side of the electromagnet. He sent a jolt through Tony's body, his limp form jolting to life for only a split second before falling still once again. Banner put his fingers back to Tony's neck, he shook his head before taking a step back again. With his hands still in place, Victor sent another shock through Tony's lifeless heart. Tony's back arched painfully as he cried out in pain. Banner shot to his friend's side.

"Pulse is weak, but it's there." Banner finely let himself breath. Even the other Bruce seemed let out a breath of relief, before putting two hands on the table and leaning forward slightly.

"This battery will need to be replaced, without an alternator it will run out of power."

"How long?" Bruce asked before Banner or Steve could, even with half his attention still on Barry behind him.

"The battery is damaged and wasn't fully charged, four hours at most."

"There should be another in the workshop, if not, you'll have one in under an hour." Bruce informed them before turning, walking past Thor as he approached Barry, Diana and Arthur.

"Is Stark… still with us?" Thor asked, his voice showing it was a question he wasn't sure if he wanted the answer for.

"He's alive." Steve replied, only then looked up from Tony's pale, sweaty face.

"Natasha?" Banner asked, still clutching his arm, blood was starting to peer through the bandages.

"She still breaths, the bat said she will recover, as well as the boy." Thor replied, he had not yet put his beloved hammer down, he was ready for anything.

"Victor." Steve turned to the cyborg. "What happened?" Steve ordered more than asked.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, I have to say I love me some Tony whump. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, would love to know what you think of the story so far and if you've got anything you want to see happen in the future. Any review it greatly appreciated. see you soon.**


	11. Chapter 11, Aftermath

Bruce's fingers worked fast, the keyboard beneath his hands taking a beating. Victor and Steve stood behind him, Banner remaining at Tony's side, Thor at Natasha's. It was clear with Banner's constant glancing over at Natasha, that he felt like he should be in both places.

"I remember walking into the warehouse, Arthur saw something through the shelfing…" A video popped up on the monitor. "I didn't believe him." Bruce admitted. The video on the monitor played, Bruce leaned back in his chair, watching the video with Victor and Steve.

"This was the only CCTV footage I could restore; the systems had been wiped." The video showed the front of the warehouse, two security guards stood by the main door talking to each other. Bruce didn't want to watch, he had a feeling the end wasn't going to be a happy one. As he suspected the guards were suddenly attacked by the same spider devices that had attacked them, they watched them latch onto the guard's neck, the cameras microphone picked up their panicked screams. The men suddenly stood still, taking their guns from there holsters before walking off into the woods out of the cameras sight. Two gun shots went off simultaneously, before silence fell. But silence didn't remain, a few more gun shots went off in the distance before static took the screen.

"Now we know what happened to the guards." Steve stated the obvious, there was a moment of silence for the men and woman who had lost their life. Bruce's fist suddenly crashed down onto the desk, the bang echoed around the cave. "There was nothing you could have done." Steve comforted. Bruce shot up out of his chair, turning so he was face to face with Steve. The Captain didn't move an inch.

"Did you bring these things with you?! Wherever you say you're from." Bruce excused, Arthur suddenly was at their side, ready to step in if needed. "I have no clue what's going on, when we woke up here, it was just me and my friends." Steve seemed to be remaining calm, on the inside he was slowly slipping, anger taking control.

"We don't know who you are, we know nothing about any of you." Bruce prodded his finger in Steve's chest.

"We came to help when you sent a distress signal, Tony risked his life to save yours! He had no intention of living through that." Steve pushed Bruce back. "I don't know if you've noticed, two of my friends almost died, only one of yours."

"And I would trade all of your lives for his." Steve couldn't help but smile, he chuckled to himself looking down at his feet. Steve's fist then crashed into the side of Bruce's face, knocking Bruce to the ground. Arthur suddenly grasped him from behind, but the Captain simply slipped his leg behind Arthur's and brought his back to the ground. Steve had no intention of continuing the fight, he stepped away, glancing over his shoulder at Banner and Thor. The look in their eyes showed they had his back no matter what, he gestured for them to remain where they were. Bruce got to his feet, he wiped his own blood from his bottom lip.

"We helped you, you helped my friends. Tony saved your life, you saved Tony's. Were on the same side!" Steve knew his actions didn't help his case, but he couldn't help it, his fist was guided by his anger.

"The thing is, I don't remember sending a distress signal and I don't remember you saving us. I just have to take your word for it."

"He's telling the truth." Barry was on his feet Diana beside him watching him closely as they approached. "Check the computer, it received a distress signal, when we arrived you all had them devices around your neck." Barry clutched his bandaged side, his black hair a mess, his eyes looked tired. "You attacked us Bruce, you're the one who hurt Natasha, Diana's the one who cut Banner." Barry wobbled on his feet slightly but regained his footing easily, his healing factor working fast to heal his eyes were on Barry, but Barry's eyes fell on Tony. His eyes examined the new device in his chest and the wires leading to the car battery, he then found the dead arc reactor laying at Tony's feet. "Is he…"

"He's alive." Steve forced a smile.

"I tried to contact Clark, the signal was being jammed. How could I have sent a signal?" Bruce turned back to the computer again he tapped away at the keyboard, he sat slowly back in his chair. Leaning his elbow on the arm of the chair, he held his head in his hand. The monitor in front clearly displayed the distress signal Bruce had somehow unwillingly sent.

* * *

Steve sat beside the table, Banner sat right next to him. In front of them both Tony remained unconscious, still lying beside his amour. Banner now with a fresh set of clothing, the simple dark brown t-shirt showed his still bleeding arm. Steve had been watching Banner just hold the broken reactor in hand, Banner's own eyes not leaving the device. Only did Banner and Steve look up, when bandages were presented right in front of Banner's face.

"You should see to that." Barry smiled, pointing at Banner's arm. He hesitated at first, but Banner eventually took the bandages from the boy with his free hand, still holding onto the reactor. "Can I… Can I take a look at that?" Barry nervously asked, knowing the importance of the arc reactor and the obvious tension in the room. Banner looked to Steve, not able to make the simple decision himself. Surprised with his behaviour, Steve simply gave a gentle nod. Banner even with Steve's approval, reluctantly gave up the reactor. Barry took it with great caution.

"How you doing?" Steve questioned the boy, his injuries seeming to have no effect on him physically.

"I'm fine…" One of Barry's hands went to where his gunshot wound was, his red hoodie covering the bandages. "I have a healing factor, I heal much faster due to an increased metabolism." Barry clutched the reactor tightly as he examined it. Steve looked over at Tony, wishing his friend would recover. "Is it ok if I run a few more tests on this? If I'm going to fix it I'll need some more information on how it works, without Tony's help I'm flying blind."

"Go ahead, I'll give you a hand once I'm done with this." Banner replied, still in the process of rebadging his arm. Barry lingered for a moment, before smiling and quickly walking off. Steve watched Banner again rush with his bandages, eager to help Barry.

"You might want to take your time, otherwise you'll be doing this again." Steve leaned forward in his chair. "And I can tell that's the last thing you want to be doing." Steve watched Banners hands slow, being more careful as he wrapped the bandages more tightly. "How long can he last on the battery?" Steve finally asked, it hurt to look at Tony's unmoving form.

"For as long as it takes to fix the reactor, when the battery runs low we can simply replace it. The electromagnet keeps the shrapnel from his heart just like the reactor."

"Then he's going to be ok?" Steve knew Banner had been dwelling on an unhealthy thought for a while now.

"The reactor was on and off for a long time, his heart stopped. I'm worried his already weak heart has sustained even more damage." Steve sat up right, a sick feeling building in his stomach. "He's having a slight trouble breathing." Banner informed, Steve now noticed the slight delay in the rise and fall of Tony's chest. "It could be nothing, but it could also be a sign of heart failure." Banner now finished with his bandages looked over at Tony. "If his heart is failing, his breathing will continue to get worse and he will need adrenaline to keep his heart working." Now finished re-dressing his arm, Banner got to his feet. "Keep an eye on him, call me if anything changes." Banner rubbed his forehead before walking away, stress and worry giving him a headache.

* * *

"Thor son of Odin, your name I have heard before." Diana approached the god of thunder, who watched over his friend closely. "But only in myth and legend."

"Your place of birth I have heard of before." Thor admitted, he couldn't pretend that Diana didn't intrigue him. "Again, only in myth and legend do I recall hearing about it." Thor thought for a moment, recalling the little reading he did when he was younger.

"At first, I thought you were a decedent of Zeus, your control over lightning something only the god of the sky have had mastered."

"This Zeus may be the god of the sky in your world, but I am the god of thunder."

"That's something you're going to have to prove." Diana smiled, the smile quickly left her face when she looked down at Natasha, she lowered her head before turning away.

* * *

Bruce sat lost in his own thoughts, Arthur again had placed himself in a corner and was watching all that went on. His gaze switching from Barry and Banner to Thor, Natasha and Diana, his eyes only sitting on Steve and Tony for a moment before looking right at him and Victor. Bruce turned away, he could still feel Arthur's eyes on him.

"What's the plan?" Victor questioned, Bruce continued to look at one of the computers monitors. His memory was still a blur, he fought to remember. The distress signal he had somehow sent to the computer a mystery, a mystery he couldn't solve. "Bruce?"

"I want that lot either locked up or back wherever there from." Bruce replied, he wasn't sure what to believe, his own memories having betrayed him he was being forced to rely on others. Something he wasn't used to.

"What more do they need to do to prove they're on our side, I trust Barry and the computer doesn't lie."

"Somethings going on here, it can't be a coincidence that these guys turn up and my warehouse is attacked by technology I've never seen before." Bruce was trying to keep his voice down. "That arc reactor, there's a scan on the computer that Barry must have taken, I've never seen anything like this." Bruce retrieved the scan, he would be lying if he said he didn't want to be giving Barry and Banner a hand fixing the reactor.

"They help us, they risked their life. You want proof, look over at the dying man on your table." Victor walked away, knowing he could be put to more use helping Barry and Banner.

Bruce didn't know what to think, with sudden arrival of an unknown fourth Mother Box and strangers from another work.

"Banner!" Steve suddenly called.

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, was kind of boring I guess, not a lot of action. Anyway see you soon.**


	12. Chapter 12, The Pain of Memories

Tony could feel a burning pain in his chest, his eyes weren't even open and he was barely conscious, but he could feel the searing pain. His eyes felt un-openable, his limbs immoveable. A hard-uncomfortable surface lay under him, his head throbbed with pain, his lungs seemed to be struggling to draw breath. Voices in the distance brought him closer to reality, the pain pulling him into a world of its own. His hands moved first, drifting towards the centre of his chest, his heart seemed to beat faster as he slowly came around. His numb, shaking fingers brushed against something familiar, but unfamiliar at the same time. Tony's usual incredible mind was being dulled with the waves of agony, Tony battled to be free of the cloud that had washed over his once powerful, unmatchable mind. His fingers continued to investigate, with each new discovery he struggled to stay calm. The tips of his fingers stumbled upon two wires, he quickly recalled that his arc reactor had been failing, that he had sacrificed his life for the life of his friends. Old and new. Tony's eyes suddenly snapped open, his mind suddenly deciphering what was now in his chest. Panic allowed him to ignore the unbearable stabbing pain in his heart, fear forced his weak muscles to work. Tony's still numb fingers attacked the electromagnet in his chest, attempting to rip the wires from the device. He couldn't be back, he just couldn't. Warm, frim hands gripped at his wrists preventing him from killing himself. Tony cried out, fighting his attacker. His eyes darted around, not really taking anything in, his surroundings just a dark blur. Someone much stronger than him gripped his wrists, he quickly realised he wasn't going to win with brute force. Even in his panicked, delusional state Tony still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Noticing the wires leading to his chest came from the right of him, Tony wriggled and forced himself in the other direction, trying to detach the wires that way instead. He knew what sat on the other end of the wires, without even looking he knew. One side of Tony's body now hung over an unknown edge, the hands that gripped his wrists suddenly let go. One gripped his arm while the other reach over him. The cables in his chest no longer were being tugged on as something large was pushed against his chest. Hands forced Tony to hold tightly onto the car battery. Arms then wrapped around him as he was lowered the floor.

* * *

Banner rushed over as soon as he had heard Steve call out, his breath was taken from him when he found Steve on the floor with Tony, forcing the genius to the clutch the car battery that was keeping him alive. Tony was obviously weak but continued to fight against Steve, his legs kicking out at thin air.

"Tony!" Steve called into the man's ear, "Tony calm down!" He again attempted to get through to the man. Banner didn't know what to do, neither did any of the other hero's watching on in shock. "Banner what's wrong with him?" Steve demanded as Banner crouched beside them. Instead of answering Banner took Tony's face in his hands, examining his friend before letting go.

"Get me a sedative, a small dose!" Banner called out, two fingers feeling for a pulse on Tony's neck, Steve attempted to hold him as still as possible. Barry suddenly appeared in a flash of blue lightning, syringe in hand. Banner snatched it from him, Steve immediately pinned Tony's head to the side, leaving his neck vulnerable. With a quick swift action Banner drove the needle into the man's neck before injecting the sedative and retrieving the needle. Steve held Tony's head as he continued to thrash around, he was determined to be free. As the seconds passed Tony became weaker and drowsier, the sedative starting to take effect. In silence everyone watched as the genius finally settled, he was still conscious, his breathing had slightly worsened. Banner got to his feet and laid the used syringe on the table Tony had just been on.

"He was having a panic attack." Banner simply replied, he rubbed his forehead before running his fingers through his hair. Steve released Tony's head, but it remained where it was as Tony tried to catch his breath. Steve then felt Tony go limp, Steve moved back slowly laying Tony on the ground. Taking the car battery from the man's arms he sat it beside him. He tapped Tony's face, his eyes were closed, and his chest was growing still.

"Banner?" Steve looked up, looking for an explanation.

"I said a small dose!" Banner suddenly panicked, "Get me some adrenalin!" Barry's heart suddenly stopped, he was sure he had measured the dose right. He only delayed for a second before he returned with a needle in hand. Banner again snatched the needle from him and plunged it this time into Tony's chest right next to the electromagnet. Tony suddenly gasped, his hands clutched at Steve behind him. Banner again sighed in relief, this time dropping the syringe to the floor before falling back off one knee and sitting on the floor. His breathing almost as heavy as Tony's.

"What happened?" Diana questioned, she felt concern for the man who had saved her and her friends.

"The sedative caused his heart to fail." Banner clutched his injured arm. "His heart was already damaged before the reactor failed, the sedative slowed his heart rate. His heart being too weak was unable to maintain a rhythm and began to fail. The adrenalin caused his heart to rapidly return to rhythm." Banner explained for Barry's sake more than anyone, just to make sure the kid didn't blame himself. Banner knew that even the small dose of sedative might have led to heart failure, it was the risk he had to take. Bruce caught Victor looking at him, the conversation they had moments ago, still clearly fresh on his mind. Steve noticed Tony stir, his eyes now taking in everything around him.

"What…" Was all Tony could get out as he attempted to sit up. Pain cut him off. Steve helped Tony off his back, he watched his hands closely as they made their way to the electromagnet. Tony inhaled quickly but soon calmed himself, the sedative also helping.

"The arc reactor stopped working Tony, we got you back here and replaced it with an electromagnet." Banner explained, getting Tony up to speed with what happened. Tony battled to get to his feet, forgetting about the car battery that weighed him down. Steve quickly helped, taking Tony's arm while simultaneously retrieving the car battery. Tony even with Steve's help ended up leaning against the table. Steve placed the battery on the table, still not letting go of his arm.

"Nice to see you lot haven't got them devices around your necks anymore, I wasn't a fan of the whole attacking us thing." Tony was out of breath just from the effort of talking. Memories of the fight suddenly flooded into Tony's mind. "Natasha?" Tony looked around but couldn't find the Black Widow beside him, but his eyes soon fell on Natasha lying unconscious in the medical bay. Before Tony could ask how she was doing his legs gave out on him, the pain in his chest something no one should ever have to go through. Steve pulled him back up onto both feet before slinging Tony's arm around his shoulders. Banner then retrieved the car battery. "Get him to the work shop" Banner demanded, Steve didn't hesitate and helped Banner walk Tony across the cave.

* * *

"It won't work, the ratio is wrong." Tony leaned back in his chair, ignoring the pain best he could. "Increase the amount of liquid titanium, it needs to be at least forty percent of the overall volume of the binding agent, otherwise it won't withstand the power output." Tony had been doing his best to avoid his dead arc reactor, but now he had the job of taking apart his heart if he ever wanted to be free of the car battery, which he now had to carry around with him. Barry was listening closely to Tony, working on the small tablet he held in one hand, he was making adjustments to the experimental binding agent they were attempting to create. Steve not understanding what they were talking about half the time kept his full attention on Tony, the genius was obviously stressed and struggling to function. He watched Tony remove the faceplate of the reactor, delving deep into the device he finally retrieved the flowing triangle element. Without power being circulated around the reactor, its light had been concealed within the device. Putting it to one side Tony continued to dismantle the reactor, it looked like he could have done it blind folded. Tony sighed and again leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Barry this isn't going to work." Tony revealed. "There's no longer just one break, there's two." Tony's hand moved from his face to his chest, moving in a circular motion just above the electromagnet. "There must have been another surge, most likely due to the EMP. Its burned another part of the circuit away." Tony looked at his broken heart, his mind struggling to think of a single solution. "There's not enough left for the binding agent to latch onto."

"We have time now; can't we just replace the circuit?" Barry refused to give up hope.

"It would take weeks to build by hand, and I don't have weeks." Steve looked at Tony confused with his statement, he looked to Banner instead.

"He's right, the electromagnet keeps the shrapnel from his heart, but with the damage his heart has recently sustained…" Banner couldn't look Steve in the eye. "He will keep needing adrenalin to keep his heart going." Banner took a breath, the news not getting any better. "Eventually his heart, even with the adrenalin, will fail."

"But if we can fix the reactor he will be fine, right?" Steve refused to believe his friends death was unpreventable.

"The reactor would run my heart, almost like a pacemaker." Tony replied, but his tone clearly showed he had given up.

"Make the binding agent." Steve ordered Barry.

"Steve it won't wor-"

"Make the binding agent." Steve cut Tony off.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, hope you enjoyed this chapter, I love Tony whump so it was a lot of fun to write. I do hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, see you soon.**


	13. Chapter 13, True Enemy

"Running binding agent simulation now." Barry thought out loud, his eyes glued to the tablet in his hands. Tony not really listening, was still busy working on his broken reactor. The pieces of his heart were laid out in front of him, the circuit now exposed. Steve and Banner had finally left Tony's side, his condition stable for now. Thor however had swapped places with them, keeping a close eye on their dying friend, while Steve and Banner now watched over Natasha. Arthur continued to watch the Avengers every move, not letting anything they do go unwatched, like Bruce he was having trouble trusting them. The other members of the Justice Leagues attention were fully on the caves computer, where Victor was attempting to decipher the device that had controlled his mind not long ago. They had only managed to salvage Bruce's; the others having ripped them from their neck destroying most of the devices main components.

"Anything yet?" Bruce asked Victor, Diana stood by his side.

"The device is unresponsive to everything I try, I can't even get it to turn on." Victor looked up at Bruce, his hands till worked with the device. "Barry mentioned Tony detected a signal being sent to the device, before he activated the EMP, I'm sure Tony will give us the signals details once the arc reactor is repaired."

"If its repaired." Arthur finally joined the conversation, he approached still keeping half his attention of the strangers around him.

"Victor have you made any progress in figuring out what powers the reactor?" Bruce questioned, curiosity getting the better of him.

"All I know is Its a self-sustaining element, not one known to our world." Victors looked up at the monitors, putting the spider device to one side, which was connected to the computer via a number of wires.

"Are there any similarities in this element and what powers that device." Bruce looked down at the spider device, he recalled the feeling of peeling it from his neck.

"Not from the looks of things, this technology may be unusual but shares no similarities at the moment with Tony's." Victor looked up at Bruce, almost as if saying 'I told you so.' Bruce sighed, looking over his shoulder at the strangers that most likely had saved his life and the life of his friends.

"Have you managed to recover anymore of the warehouse CCTV footage?" Part of Bruce wanted to believe that the Avengers were friendly, and most signs backed up that fact, but something didn't sit quite right with Bruce. The fact that they arrived with a Mother Box, and also how an unknown enemy attacked one of his high security warehouse with unknown technology, couldn't be a coincidence.

"I managed to find some recoverable footage inside the warehouse, the computer is repairing the file now, I'm not sure how much will be able to be recovered." Diana and Arthur's attention were suddenly grasped.

"I don't remember anything, not after seeing whatever that thing was through the shelfing." Arthur crossed his arms, his eyes on Steve and Banner watching over Natasha.

"None of us remember anything." Bruce was also getting frustrated with his lack of memory, Diana seemed to not mind the loss, the fact that everyone was safe and alive enough for her.

* * *

Barry grunted in annoyance, Tony noticed and looked up from the reactor parts that were laid out in front of him. Barry's fingers rapidly tapped at the tablets screen, clear something was wrong Tony stepped in to help.

"What's wrong kid?"

"The compounds won't combine, it might be something to do with the high ratio of liquid titanium."

"I can't help you their kid, on our world that process is only a concept." Tony went to return to his work when the tablet was suddenly held in front of him.

"This ratio is correct yes?" Barry asked, wanting to double check his calculations. Tony's tired eyes flicked over the screen before he nodded.

"Looks good to me." Tony rubbed his eyes. Almost dying, and a sleepless night previous to the start of this mad journey, was now taking its toll on him.

"Tony." Barry's tone told Tony to brace for bad news, news Tony already knew about.

"Kid I know, the breaks are too big, the binding agent won't withstand the power output."

"What if we increase the amount of liquid titanium?"

"There won't be enough binding agent to latch onto what's left of the circuit." Thor standing close by could sense all was not well, their words may be like another language to him, but he could see when a man had lost all hope.

"Stark, you cannot give up now." Thor placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, just letting him know he was there for him. Tony tapped the gods hand before pulling away and getting up. Thanks to the addition of a handle to the car battery Tony could haul it around with him a little easier, he had to hold the battery at the right height to insure the wires were not yanked free.

"I don't know about you Barry, but I want to get a closer look at that device." Tony was already making his way over to Bruce and the other members of the Justice League, the mind control device they were analysing not a lost cause compared to the arc reactor in Tony's eyes. Even though Barry wanted to follow, his main concern was saving Tony's life, he saved his friends after all. It was the least he could do.

* * *

"Mind if I take a look?" Tony approached the members of the Justice League gathered around at the computer.

"Shouldn't you be trying to fix your own device?" Victor questioned, the rest of the Justice League also wondering the same.

"Lost cause." Tony awkwardly smiled, in a way he had accepted his own death back in the warehouse. It was almost an annoyance that he was now forced to slowly die, his heart eventually going to give out. "Barry's working on it." Tony quickly added, trying to make what he said last nothing more than a joke.

"We were hoping once the reactor was fixed that you would be able to access the signal that you picked up, the one being sent to this device."

"I can transfer some of the reserve power in the motors to the hard drive of the amour, should allow you access if I give you the codes to bypass the security." The car battery he carried seemed to be getting heavier, but he refused to show its effects on him, Tony stood tall an illusion of strength.

"Sounds like a plan." Victor got up from his chair, ready to help Tony with his amour. Tony was about to turn around, towards the table were his amour lay motionless. But the sudden flickering of the lights above stopped him in his tracks, the computer monitors then went black.

"Victor what's going on?" Bruce demanded an answer, but he didn't get one. The cave was then in lockdown, the thick solid metal wall slid back over the lift, while the sound of metal walls concealing all exits echoed around the cave. The cave was sealed, they were locked in.

"Tony?" Steve emerged from the medical bay, looking at the genius for answers.

"Wasn't me." Tony defended himself, getting the wrong idea of Steve's questioning tone.

"Bruce Wayne?" An unfamiliar male voice spoke through the computers speakers. "I should have guessed long ago that you were the Batman."

"Who are you?" Bruce even with his identity revealed, remained calm and menacing.

The screen suddenly burst into life, a man sat on the other side of the screen. A green man. Wires were attached to sockets in his head, glowing dark pink lights were visible throughout the black amour that covered his torso.

"Brainiac." The green man smiled, his name something he was obviously proud of.

"And people say I have a big ego." Tony stepped closer to the monitor to get a better look at the strange man.

"You must be one of the hitchhikers that came here with my Mother box"

"Your Mother Box?" Diana spoke up. Thor and Barry had rushed from the work shop and now stood watching the monitor with the others.

"I told you it wasn't my fault." Tony pointed to Steve in victory. Steve just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, more annoyed with the fact Tony could joke around at this moment in time.

"Yes, my Mother Box" Brainiac's voice sent a wave of uneasiness over everyone, "I will spare all of you if you hand it over immediately."

"That's not going to happen." Even through the monitor Bruce managed to lock eyes with Brainiac. The green man again smiled, a deep chuckle sounded through the speakers.

"Look around Mr Wayne, I am in control and you are trapped."

"And the Mother Box is out of your reach."

"Not for long, soon I will be walking over your corpses and the Mother Box will finally be in my hands." The screen again went black, the lights above burst, sparks flew before the cave plummeted into darkness.

* * *

"Everyone alright?" Diana asked, glowing lasso in hand. The golden glow only pierced a meter into the black abyss that surrounded them.

"Well, as alright as I can be." Tony laughed, one hand over his electromagnet his shoulders hunched slightly. "So, who's your green friend?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." Bruce turned to Tony, Steve was between them in seconds.

"Haven't we earned your trust, we know nothing of this Brainiac." Steve argued back. Before Bruce could say or do anything, everyone was forced to find cover as stun charges were fired in their direction, the caves defences turning on them. Steve keeping to the ground pulled Tony behind cover at the head of the table behind them. It shielded them from the stun charges, which were only coming from one end of the cave. Diana's lasso was almost concealed as she hid behind a crate with Bruce, leaving Steve and Tony almost in complete darkness.

"Barry your up!" Bruce shouted, Barry responded instantly, in a flash of blinding blue lightning the guns firing at them from the dark sparked before falling still. Everyone slowly emerged from their hiding places. Making sure the Tony still had hold of the car battery, Steve helped him to his feet. He tried to ignore how weak Tony was getting, how his breathing was getting more laboured with each breath.

"Do you think we would put ourselves in harm's way if we were working with whoever this guy is?" Steve continued to attempt to reason with Bruce, to prove they had no part in what was going on. At this point Barry stepped out from the darkness into the light of the lasso, Bruce tried to hide the fact that it startled him. Steve wasn't the only one who spotted him step back in surprise, Barry gave a quick smile to Steve. Even with the danger of the situation the kid still managed to smile, and Steve couldn't help but give a quick smile back. He reminded him a little too much of Tony.

"Banner you alright in there?" Tony called to his friend, the medical bay too far to be affected by the golden light of the lasso.

"Were fine." Banner called back, it was clear he wasn't going to leave Natasha's side at this moment in time.

"I can't get into the computer, Brainiac's taken control of the caves entire system." Victor slammed his fist onto the desk before turning back to the group.

"The device." Tony leaned against Steve, standing becoming too much effort for his heart, his eyes however were fixed on the mind control device still hooked up to the computer. "Must be how he got access to the system."

"The device wasn't even on." Bruce argued, not wanting to believe he was fooled so easily.

"Doesn't mean it can't transfer data, most likely used the computer to power the transfer." Sweat was starting to build on the surface of Tony's skin, he could feel his heart struggling under his ribcage. Bruce looked to Victor for confirmation that Tony was right.

"It's possible it could have done it undetected."

"Why can't we just destroy the device now?" Thor rose his hammer, eager to crush it.

"Thor no!" Tony shouted in protest, his lungs wished he hadn't. "The data has already been transferred, you would only be destroying our one link to this Brainiac." Tony explained clearly fighting for breath, Steve could feel him leaning more of his weight against him.

"Then what do we do?" Arthur was frustrated with the lack of answers, especially ones that didn't involve him punching something.

"We could force the entire system to reboot, once we bring the system offline we could make it start up on a previous backup of the system."

"The system backs up hourly, all the hardware is stored downstairs." Bruce informed.

"There's a down stairs?" Barry questioned, the size of the cave something he obviously wasn't clear on.

"Tony, Barry, Victor you're with me, we'll head down stairs and reboot the system. Thor, Banner and Diana you three try get the lights back on and see what you can do about this lockdown. Bruce and Arthur, I trust you to keep an eye on Natasha while you manually disable all the lethal security measures you can." There was a moment of silence once the Captain had finished, the Justice League first looked at Diana and then all eyes were on Bruce.

"Looks like you're giving the orders now Captain." Bruce smiled, Steve had taken the words right out of his mouth, maybe not his exact words, he said it better then Bruce ever could. The Captain knew how to work a team, this is something Bruce envied.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Sorry for the delay of this chapter, had the flu and only just recovered. Hope you like this little bit longer chapter, least I can do for making you wait. I wonder if any of you knew that Brainiac was involved, would love to hear from you. Also more Tony whump, because I cant get enough of it. And finally, please leave a review on what you thought about this chapter, I really do appreciate it and helps me out :P See you soon.**


	14. Chapter 14, Lost Cause

Steve held the torch lighting the way down the winding corridor, Barry, Victor and Tony followed behind him.

"The stairs should be just at the end of his corridor." Victor told them. The others had not yet noticed thanks to the darkness that Tony had fallen slightly behind, the only reason he was still walking, let alone standing due to the support the wall gave. He had somehow convinced Steve that he was ok, in truth he wasn't sure he convinced him at all. Which soon became evident when Steve suddenly stopped and turned, the flashlight revealing Tony's struggle. Steve immediately handed the torch to Victor and went to Tony's side.

"I'm alright." Tony lied, prompting Steve to take Tony's arm with one hand.

"No, you're not."

"We can't give him more adrenalin yet, it's too soon since his last dose." Barry wished Banner was here instead, he felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, and he didn't like it.

"Just hang in there Stark." Steve encouraged as he helped him down the corridor, Tony struggled to even think, it took him way too long to process what Steve said in the first place. Progress was slow as they made their way down the steep stairs. The four of them soon emerged in the large room containing the servers and hardware of the computer above. Small lights flickered and flashed throughout the rows of tall towers.

"We're going to have to reset each system manually one by one, you will also need to use the code twenty-six, zero-six, ninety-six. It should get you passed the firewall."

"June twenty-sixth, nineteen ninety-six" Tony would have normally instantly recognised the configuration of the numbers, but with his body and mind currently failing him, it took a few seconds than normal. "Important to someone?" Victor didn't reply, instead walked down one of the many rows of tall metal towers, even Barry seemed to avoid his gaze. Tony took the cold shoulder as a cue to get to work, with the car battery's strap resting on his arm like a hand bag, Tony had both hands free to type on the keyboard. Tony inputted the code Victor provided and began searching for the backup system files.

"How far are we going back?" Barry asked, like Tony not sure what back up to use.

"The device was plugged into the main computer two hours ago, we have to assume that was when it infected the system." Victor replied, already moving onto another tower. Victor having no use for the torch, had handed it back to Steve to help the others navigate through the dark. Even with enough light on the keyboard beneath his hands, Tony's vison was still blurred. His finger fumbled, hitting the wrong key from time to time. On a normal day Tony could type without even glancing down, the layout of the keys wired into the muscle memory of his hands. But it isn't a normal day, and Tony could barely type a line of code without making a mistake or having to look down at his shaking hands. Barry however was getting frustrated with the processing speed of the computer, the system unable to keep up with the speed he worked at. Tony finally finished with the first computer tower and went to move onto the next, Tony struggled to keep up the arm that carried the battery. His arm started to drop, and the car battery slowly slid down his arm. The combination of the weight numbing his weak arm and his sweat soaked skin allowed for this. Tony noticed to late as the battery's strap slipped down his hand, he felt the wires about to be yanked from his electromagnet. A blue light engulfed his vison and Barry was in front of him, battery in hand. Tony's body at that point gave up, much like Tony had given up on the arc reactor. First his legs buckled under him, the muscles no longer able to withstand the lack of oxygenated blood. His lungs then gasped from breath, attempting to correct the issue. His heart however could no longer pump the blood sufficiently enough. Barry did his best to keep Tony on his feet, Steve was there in seconds and lowered Tony to the ground cradling his head in the crook of his arm.

"Tony can you hear me?" Steve asked, trying to stay calm as he felt for Tony's pulse, the man was breathing heavily so at least he knew he was alive. Even though he was breathing heavily, Steve discovered his heart was slowing.

"Keep working." Victor ordered Barry as placed the car battery on the ground by Tony. "Reboot the servers then you can help him."

"He's right." Barry stopped Steve before he could protest. "We still can't give him any adrenalin."

"How long do we have to wait, we wait too long his heart will stop!"

"That's the plan Cap." Tony mumbled, his words fighting against his lungs that battled to oxygenate his blood, a battle his lungs would inevitably lose. Steve looked down at Tony before his head snapped up at Barry. Barry refused to look at Steve, his eyes twitching around the room before he turned away.

"You can't be serious?"

"It's the only way we can preserve his heart for longer." Barry told Steve, already working on rebooting another system.

"By letting it stop! How can that help him?" Steve shouted, he struggled to understand what was going on, how any of this was benefitting Tony. Barry took a deep breath.

"I wasn't going to let it stop, just leave it to the last possible moment to give him the adrenalin." Barry forced himself to look over his shoulder, there he found Tony, his condition worsening with each passing second. "It's what me and Banner agreed on."

"It's not what I agreed on." Steve pushed Tony up into a sitting position.

"If you want to help him, when he loses consciousness give him the adrenalin." Barry turned away, moving onto the next computer tower, knowing there was no point arguing with the Captain. Steve wasted no time in replying, taking the car battery in one hand and hoisting Tony up with the other they gradually made their way out the room. Leaving the torch behind they were forced to endure the dark.

* * *

The stairs were cruel, each step seeming to become steeper, Steve was practically carrying Tony at this point, his feet dragging along the ground every now and then. One arm still clung around Steve's shoulders while the other hung limp. Tony's body was growing numb, His heart no longer able to circulate blood to his muscles. With darkness having consumed his vison, Tony was fighting to stay awake, and he wasn't sure why. With the arc reactor practically destroyed and with no way back home, Tony was going to die either way, now he was just prolonging his suffering. And not even the genius understood why.

"You still with me Stark?" Steve scaled the last step with Tony. At first Tony was sure he replied but Steve's worried tone proved otherwise. "Tony hold on." Steve ordered. With the car battery still in hand, Steve found the wall to his left using his elbow. He kept it against the wall, allowing him to get a baring of where they were. When Tony hadn't replied he feared the worse, but he kept pushing through the darkness, his eyes refusing to adjust to the world of black. Once back in the main cave, Steve set Tony down on the floor against a concreate pillar. Small lights had been set up on the large table and over by the computer, his eyes stung, not use to seeing light. He quickly discovered Tony's eyes were still open and the he could barely breath. Tony seemed to stare off into the distance as his lungs begged for air, his heart no longer oxygenating blood. "I'm not waiting any longer." Steve stood up heading for the medical bay. Arthur blocked his way.

"Captain!" Bruce shouted from across the cave. The lights only just revealed him with his bat suit still on, minus the cowl and cape, he almost melted into the darkness. Steve noticed he clutched his shoulder in pain. He turned back to Arthur just in time to counter his incoming fist. Using the outside of his arm he swatted the punch away before landing his own fist to Arthur's cheek. Steve only then noticed the small metal legs just peeking out from under Arthur's hair. The spider device that they had brought back to the cave, had latched itself onto the back of his neck and now again controlled his mind. Steve took a few steps away from Tony, trying to lure Arthur away. The Atlantean followed. "Get down!" Bruce ordered from behind, Steve complied and seconds later his shield flew over his head and collided with Arthur's chest before clattering to the floor. Steve rolled for it, picking it up mid roll. He then collided the shield against Arthur's face, the Atlantean stumbled taking a moment to regain himself.

"We need to deactivate the device." Bruce told Steve as came to his side, fists up ready for a fight. "All I can think of is another EMP, but Tony…" Bruce looked over at the dying man, his eyes had slid closed.

"Would die." Steve finished the sentence, the words more painful than he expected. "There has to be another way." Steve managed to say before Arthur charged him. Both Bruce and Steve side stepped out the way. "Thor, Banner!" Steve called for his team mates, wondering how they hadn't heard the commotion already.

"Their probably in the generator room." Bruce had already tried to call for aid, both groups were too far away to hear him. Arthur swung wildly at them, all Bruce and Steve could do was keep dodging his attacks, until the right opportunity presented itself. "Keep him busy." Bruce suddenly ordered before darting off into the cave and out of sight. All Steve could do was keep his shield up, letting Arthur's fists collide with the unbreakable metal. However, Arthur quickly adapted, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere. He latched onto Steve shield, and pulled the Captain off his feet, throwing him to the side like a doll. He landed by Tony, and Steve's eyes widened in fear. Tony lay where he left him, eyes still closed, chest not moving. Anger and pain swelled in Steve, a new boost of adrenalin launched him to his feet. Using his shield, he deflected the first attack before swinging his leg round and landing a blow to his side. Steve rapidly landed punch after punch, he was only stopped when Arthur's body suddenly began to violently shake before dropping to the floor revealing Bruce behind him. He held what seemed to be a high-tech version of a stun gun, similar to the caves defence guns that shot at them earlier. Steve wasted no time and darted into the medical bay, Natasha lay safe but still unconscious. Sitting on a counter he found the already prepped needle of adrenalin. When Steve returned to the centre of the cave, Bruce had already bound Arthur's hands and was approaching Tony. Steve rushed passed him, kneeling by his friend he checked for a pulse, he wasn't surprised when he didn't find one. Pulling Tony away from the concrete pillar he laid him against the cold floor. He prodded his fingers around Tony's chest, looking for the gap in his ribs, for a path to his heart. Bruce watched as Steve drove the long needle down into Tony's chest. They waited, both holding their breath. Nothing happened. Steve's eyes scanned Tony rapidly, looking for any sign of life. There was none. Steve's fingers found Tony's cold neck once again, and still he felt no pulse. His heart refused to beat, his friend refused to draw breath. His friend was dead.

* * *

"Banner!" Steve desperately cried. "Banner!" He cried again, but an answer never came.

Steve eyes never moved from Tony, he had no words, no way of describing what was going through his mind. Emotions seemed to consume him, leaving him an empty shell.

"Move!" A familiar voice suddenly shouted, Steve and Bruce jumped back in surprise when Natasha dropped on her knees next to Tony. She immediately tilted his head back, pinching his noes before she began mouth to mouth. After a few breaths she looked up at Steve.

"Start chest compressions." She ordered, the stiches on her forehead made her seem even more menacing. She again breathed for Tony, attempting to restore the well needed oxygen his body required. He was cold to the touch, and a layer of sweat covered his skin. After what felt like hours Natasha sat up right, releasing Tony's nose she finally grasped what had happened. His heart hadn't beat for minutes, there was no sign of him drawing a singal breath. "Steve." Natasha was clearly fighting back tears. "Steve." Natasha again said as he continued to press down on one side of the electromagnet.

"No, keep going!" He demanded, but Natasha didn't listen. He proceeded to slam his fist down onto Tony's chest. Natasha even with all she had done, all she had seen, she couldn't help but look away. "Steve stop, he's gone!" She cried, a tear rolled down her smooth elegant cheek. Bruce caught Steve's arm before he landed another blow.

"I'm sorry." Bruce locked eyes with Steve, Steve could see loss in his eyes, death was something Bruce seemed to carry with him. Something he was all too familiar with. Anger drove Steve to snatch his arm away, pushing Bruce off him he again brought his fist down onto Tony's chest. This time Natasha tried to stop him, but again she was just shoved aside.

"You can't do this!" Steve shouted, his words echoing around the cave. "You fucking bastard, you can't do this!" Steve's words seemed to get caught in his throat, the pain in them overwhelming. Steve slowly stopped hitting Tony's chest, until his fist just sat next to the electromagnet. "You bastard." Steve mumbled, he fought back his tears like any good solider would, he hung his head in shame. One of the few links to his past was gone, Tony Stark, the son of Howard Stark. He had failed them both.

"Language."

Steve's head shot up, Tony's eyes creaked open as he took a few shaky breaths, coughing at the unusual feeling of his lungs filling with precious oxygen.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **The FEELS! There just too good man, too good. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, the Tony whump was too perfect. So much fun to write. I feel like this chapter had it all, team work, references, action, feels, whump. Would love to know what you guys thought of it and if you've got anything you might want to see happen in this story, I'm always open to ideas. As always, see you soon.**


	15. Chapter 15, The Mind of a Damaged Genius

Steve had pulled Tony upright, sitting him back against the pillar he had been propped up against moments ago. Tony continued to rub his chest, just beside his electromagnet. He was obviously in discomfort. Steve however grabbed his wrist, stopping him. Tony simply rolled his eyes and let his head lean back against the cold concrete pillar. Steve kept hold of his wrist, checking his pulse while he had the chance. After a few moments Steve sighed, returning Tony's arm to him. He didn't know what he expected, for his heart to miraculously be as fit as his, to be a statement of health.

"I know you're sick of being asked this, but how are you doing?" Steve remained at Tony's level, Natasha stood next to Bruce, not wanting to crowd Tony.

"My heart stopped mul…tiple times… I'm..." Tony struggled with his words, not even able to finish his sentence. His tongue stumbled as if forgetting how to pronounce sounds. Natasha now kneeled by Tony, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Tony looked at her confused, unable to understand what was going on.

* * *

Banner watched Tony from over Natasha and Steve's shoulder, Tony sat in the workshop, Barry and Thor at his side. The lights above were now restored, brining life back into the dark cave. Victor and Bruce were working on getting the computer back online, making sure each system that rebooted wasn't corrupted. Diana sat with Arthur, the Atlantean kept good posture even though his head pounded. He wasn't pleased with having to recover again from mind control. Banner watched as Tony struggled to recognise the different parts of his arc reactor, he could see the confusion on his face when Barry used technical terms. His expression almost mimicking Thor's.

"It could be temperamental." Banner informed quietly, making sure Tony wouldn't hear.

"Or it could be permanent." Natasha continued, she had seen other men and woman show the same symptoms before.

"What could be permanent?" Steve questioned, not on the same page as Natasha and Banner.

"Brain damage." Natasha turned to Steve, she witnessed a spark of fear in his eyes as they widened slightly. He broke eye contact and folded his arms.

"It could still be a mild case oxygen deprivation." Banner added, trying to keep the dying flame of hope alive.

"When will we know?" Steve kept himself from looking back at Tony, he blamed himself for everything. Even after a few seconds, no one replied. "When will we know which one it is?" Steve asked more forcefully.

"It could be hours, even days." Banner snapped, Natasha was sure she saw his eyes flash green, it was clear the subject was upsetting him. Banner took a deep breath, his hand shaking as he adjusted his glasses. "It depends on the health of the brain." Banner explained, he could feel the Hulk slipping back down into his subconscious. "As we all know even though Tony's heart is damaged, he makes up it up with his intellect."

"So, there's a good chance he will recover. That this is just temporary?" Steve unfolded his arms and adjusted his plain grey t-shirt slightly. His shield sat on his back via the black harness, this time he refused to hand it over to the Justice League. Again, there was a delayed reply to Steve's question.

"I don't want to make any promises." Banner replied honestly, he then walked past Steve towards the centre of the cave. Steve turned wanting to call him back, but Natasha took hold of his arm pulling him back round.

"Right now, he needs to be alone." Natasha couldn't stand all the waiting around, she couldn't help but wish Clint was with them, Hawkeye having been at her side for years it was weird to be fighting this fight without him.

* * *

"So, we can't bond this ratio of binding agent and liquid titanium, but if we lower the levels of liquid titanium we can bond them." Barry's eyes scanned the tablet in his hand. "But then there won't be enough binding agent to be able to repair the breaks." Barry was thinking out loud, he failed to notice Tony was getting more agitated with every word. Barry put the tablet down, his eyes fell on the arc reactor. The reactor wasn't completely dismantled, Tony had only made access to the broken circuit.

"Maybe we can modify the reactor, make the power bypass the circuit somehow?" Barry had run out of ideas, he struggled to understand the arc reactor and how it worked. The element that powers it, doesn't even exist in his world. "Tony?" Barry asked, the man staring blankly down at the reactor parts. "Tony do you think we could do something like that?" Barry jumped back as Tony's fist slammed down onto the table.

"I d-dont kn-kn-know!" Tony's elbows rested on the table, his head fell into his hands. Thor like the other Avengers couldn't bare to see Tony this way, he was broken and merely a shell of the man he once was.

"Stark…" Thor approached but Tony turned suddenly, his wild eyes locking on Thor.

"Leave me a-a-alone! Th-th… there's nothing you can, can, can say to me." Thor wouldn't have normally let such words get to him, but there was something about Tony. The man was a statement of loss, a man who had lost apart of himself. Thor looked to Barry, asking without words to look after his friend. Barry nodded, and Thor left the two of them alone. Barry then pulled up a chair on the other side of the table, Tony put his head back in his hands.

"I'm not too good at this friend stuff, I had been on my own for a long time. It's taken a while to get used to, well all this" Barry nervously told him, not having comforted a friend in a long time.

"What about your, your parents?" Tony questioned, his mind taking a while to figure out a response, Barry had waited patiently.

"My dad's in prison. My mum was killed when I was a kid." Barry smiled awkwardly.

"I lost my parents when I was a kid." Tony lifted his head, Barry noticed that was the best his speech had been since the other had brought him back.

"I'm sure your parents loved you very much." Barry was trying his best but interacting with another human was not his speciality. He froze up as Tony chuckled, eventually laughing as he leaned back in his chair, carelessly tugging on the electromagnet's wires.

"The happiest day of my f-f-father's life was when he shipped me, me, me off to boarding school." Even as the words left his lips his fragile mind forced him to relive hearing his fathers reordered words, 'my greatest creation is you.' Even now he wasn't even sure if he believed it, he wasn't really sure of anything at the moment. After a few moments of awkward silence Barry attempted to change the subject.

"The arc reactor keeps shrapnel from your heart, how did that happen?" Again, Barry didn't realise the questions he was asking were of a sensitive nature. Tony looked down at the arc reactor and then at his chest where the electromagnet sat.

"I… don't remember." Tony had been trying his best to ignore the fact that each sentence was a battle to get out his mouth, that he could barely think and that pieces of his memory were missing. Maybe even gone.

"I know that things may be difficult right now and that I don't actually know you very well, but I believe you will be able to piece it all back together." Barry became all serious for a moment, bravely deciding to say what he felt to be true.

"Piece." Tony looked up suddenly. "Piece together." Tony smiled, he launched out of his chair, almost forgetting his car battery which he quickly snatched up with one hand. Barry didn't even have time to get up before Tony returned with copper wiring, he sat back down and took the arc reactor in hand. With the broken circuit exposed he laid the copper wire over the top, using a soldering iron he fixed it in place. "Piece together." Tony repeated, not sure how to explain what he had just done, he simply passed the reactor over to Barry. It even took him a moment to understand what Tony had done, but once he did he wanted to kick himself. It didn't even cross his mind once to even attempt what Tony had done. Using the copper wires, Tony had bridged the gaps in the circuit. Not sure how he had done it himself, Tony had been able to dodge important components of the circuit, something Barry wouldn't have been able to do without extensive knowledge of the arc reactor.

"We can adjust the ratio!" Barry realised what Tony already knew, even if he wasn't able to explain it. "There's now a stable enough structure for the binding agent to hold." Barry smiled, success now in their grasp.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **I feel like I could have done better on this chapter but with college work and the fact that I decided to finish and read it all over at god know what time, it might not be of the usual quality. However I hope you still enjoyed it, was mainly a lot of emotional feels and some interesting interactions between characters. Anyway see you soon.**


	16. Chapter 16, Road to Recovery

Tony carefully returned the glowing blue, triangular element back to its rightful home. The reactor sprung to life, a sight Tony thought he would never see again.

"The binding agent is holding." Barry told the others, the Avengers stood around their friend. A wave of relief washing over them all. "You did it." Barry smiled uncontrollably, he couldn't help it, overwhelming joy took hold of his face.

"We." Tony smiled in return. He had expected to die in the cold, dark warehouse, but he had survived thanks to his friends. Old and new. Tony felt Steve pat him on the shoulder before walking off with Natasha, both heading over to Bruce and Victor by the computer. Banner remained watching Tony as he attempted to put the faceplate back on the arc reactor, his fingers hesitated not sure on what to do.

"That connects there." Banner pointed out, only trying to help. But it just made Tony feel worse, he couldn't even put something he had made with his bare hands back together. With Banners help the reactor was soon whole again. Not wanting to waste any more time Tony suddenly went to detach the wires from the electromagnet in his chest, there was a flash of blue and Barry's hand was latched around Tony's arm. His fingers like a clamp.

"Let me" Barry offered. Tony trusted the boy, he had helped save his life after all. He took the arc reactor from the table and handed it over to Barry. Tony blinked, and the electromagnet sat in Barry's hand, instead of the repaired reactor. A rush of energy ran through Tony's body, he took a deep pain free breath and he felt wide awake. His hand reached for his chest and there he found his arc reactor, Tony leaned back in his chair, releasing deep breaths. His heart was stabilised in a matter of minutes. His mind even felt a little clearer, a few memories even being restored.

"A bomb, a guided b-b-bomb I designed." Tony was finally able to reply to Barry's question from earlier. "That's how, how, how I came to be riddled with s-shrapnel."

"Sounds horrible." Barry struggled to imagine what Tony went through. Banner sat quietly just listening, surprised with how open Tony was being.

"It was, but it got me out, out, out of the weapons business and g-g-gave me the idea for this." Tony looked down at his reactor, the glowing blue light brighter than ever, the perfectly cut hole in his top allowed for it to shine in all its glory.

* * *

Thor watched from a distance as Tony's reactor was finally returned to his chest, he smiled to himself, just grateful that his friend was finally on the mend. However, In the corner of his eye something caught his attention, he turned towards what had took him out of the moment of relief. Diana had slipped from the crowed and made her way deeper into the cave, Thor followed, curiosity getting the better of him. He found her standing by the Mother Box, Bruce having moved it to a more secure area of the cave.

"The box troubles you." Thor announced his presence, Diana turned not startled by his sudden arrival.

"My people have died trying to protect this box's kin." Diana turned back to the Mother Box, the dirty orange metal surface making it stand out in the room.

"My people also have died protecting objects of great power, but it's a responsibility they accepted many years ago."

"Does that make their deaths any easier." Diana's eyes remained on the Mother Box.

Thor came up beside Diana.

"No, it doesn't." Thor admitted, his heart beat for the lives lost, he knew the death toll just by getting a glimpse of Diana's eyes.

"Back on my world, my birthplace remains apart from the planet I walk on. The planet I have sworn to protect."

"What about your birthplace, is it not your duty to protect the place you were born to?" The question even though directed at Thor, Diana was also asking herself the same question. Thor paused for a second, his eyes scanning the carved surface of the Mother Box.

"My people are strong; the people of Midgard are not strong enough to handle the universe they have suddenly been thrown into." Thor replied with confidence, he had decided long ago that Earth needed his help.

"Midgard… Earth?" Diana confirmed more than questioned. She looked to Thor and he simply nodded.

"Diana!" Bruce suddenly called from the main area of the cave, there was a sense of urgency in his voice.

* * *

Everyone approached the computer, Diana and Thor emerged and Diana stopped in her tracks. Every set of eyes were unable to leave the screens.

"I thought you said the system was wiped?" Steve was unable to blink.

"The systems clean, this is a transmission." Victor replied, Bruce not able to say a word.

"I want the Mother Box." Brainiac spoke, but the green man was nowhere to be seen. On the monitors Superman was chained up, a similar spider device latched across his face like a mask. He wasn't moving.

"Clark…" Diana mumbled, she couldn't understand how Superman had been bested.

"I want the Mother Box." Brainiac repeated, his voice obviously more agitated. No one replied. The screens suddenly went black and returned to normal, a window then popped up with some co-ordinates.

"It's a trap." Arthur was the first to speak up.

"Victor get the Mother Box and the rest of you get ready to leave." Bruce announced before heading deeper into the cave, no one questioned him and the rest of the Justice League then went off in different directions, leaving the Avengers alone. Out of the Avengers Tony made the first move, heading over to his amour that still lay face down on the table.

"Stark?" Steve questioned as Tony got into his amour. The Avengers watched as he pushed his chest plate off the table and his boots clunk against the stone floor.

"He said t-t-to get ready to leave." Tony simply replied, the mechanical tone of the amour not hiding his stutter

"We tried to help before, and it almost got you and Natasha killed. Banner is still injured." Steve snapped, even though his instincts drive him to help anyone he can. His team is his priority, and the fact that he almost lost two members so suddenly had secretly shaken him to the core. "And they still don't trust us fully." Steve added.

"And why should they?" Natasha argued. "Do you trust them fully?" Steve put his hands on his hips while his eyes looked to the ground.

"Get ready to leave." Steve repeated Bruce's words, finally giving in, he knew Natasha was right. He followed her as she went to retrieve her gear. Banner and Thor remained with Tony.

"Tony, are you sure you can do this?" Banner questioned his friend, who had only just dragged himself off deaths door.

"Well I'm n-n-not really sure of anything right now." Tony joked, trying to get away from seriousness of the situation. "You sure your up for this?" Tony pointed at Banners bandaged arm. "The other guy is ready for anything." Banner forced a smile, he wasn't keen on letting the Hulk take the reins for the third time in the matter of a few days, but he didn't really have a choice, his friends needed him.

"Friday, the, the, the brain. How's the brain." Tony asked his A.I, his helmet keeping the conversation private.

"There's signs of lack of oxygen to various sections of the brain, at this time it's hard to tell whether the symptoms you are experiencing are permanent." Friday replied.

"Great." Was all Tony could bring himself to say. Bruce and the other member of the Justice League approached.

"He's our friend, we'll handle it." Bruce told the Avengers, Steve and Natasha quickly re-joined the group.

"Were not being left behind again." Natasha spoke up before Steve could even get a word out. "We're all in this mess together, whether you like it or not."

"I wouldn't want to get on t-t-the wrong side of her." Tony backed up. Victor with the Mother Box in hand joined the group. Bruce looked around at the circle of faces, everyone ready to again risk their lives.

"Let's go." Bruce ordered.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, sorry for the delay of the chapter, just been very busy. Hope the chapter was alright, reviews as always are appreciated. See you soon.**


	17. Chapter 17, Dangerous Waters

"This can't be good." Tony took a step towards the water's edge, the docks waters swirled as the wind tumbled across the fresh night sky above. The sun having slipped away left the blinding moon to take over the clear cloudless sky, the full moon seemed to consume the sky. There was a white shimmer across the silent pulsing water, a cold mist seemed to hover like a ghost just on top, a chill swiftly creped in. Everyone but Bruce stood out in the dark, the Batman designed to work in these exact conditions. Tony's arc reactor and eyes like a beacon to anyone across the water, Victor's beaming red lights also not helping him remain one with the night, while Barry's red suit and Thor's bright red cape did them no favours.

"The co-ordinates are correct." Victor confirmed.

"There's a s-s-structure twenty-six meters down." Tony announced more casually than he meant to. Steve came up beside Tony on the concrete docks edge, attempting to peer down into the deep black water.

"You're going to need these." Bruce suddenly offered up small cylinder breathing devices. Banner took his holding it in both hands, he looked to Tony, the expressionless Iron Man face plate looked back at him.

"I'm not going to enjoy this." Natasha told the others as she zipped up her body suit all the way, she could already feel the numbing cold water against her skin.

"Neither am I." Barry added, he stared at the breathing device, unable to trust it fully to stop him from drowning. "Haven't you got a submarine laying around Bruce?" Barry looked to the bat with pleading eyes.

"This way we will hopefully get in undetected." Bruce replied, as he insured all his equipment was still firmly attached to his belt.

"But you've got a submarine?" Barry asked, still hopeful that he wouldn't have to plunge into the Icey waters. Bruce turned to him, making eye contact as if to say, 'of course I do.'

"Any sign of an entrance?" Diana asked the next obvious question.

"A couple actually." Tony replied before Victor. "The one t-t-that looks the best is on the, the, the…" Tony took a moment to sort his thoughts, no one rushed him. "The other side of the facility, there's an airlock."

"Those who can, help those who would fall behind." Steve took charge, Diana and Bruce glanced at each other for a second. Tony saluted to the Captain, before Steve willingly dived into the water. Banner popped the breathing device in his mouth before approaching the water's edge, Tony comfortingly patted Banner on the back, before pushing him in. It wasn't an elegant entrance into the black water. Tony then followed after him, jumping backwards while simultaneously waving to the others. Thor offered his free hand to Natasha, Mjölnir in his other. They then both followed their friends, leaving the Justice League on dry land.

"Clark beat the shit out of most of them and they've all jumped in first." Arthur laughed before following after the Avengers. Diana and Victor then quickly joined him in the water, Barry and Bruce remaining.

"Have I ever told about my crippling fear of drowning?" Barry asked nervously.

"Yes." Bruce simply replied, attempting to push Barry closer to the edge. But Barry resisted, digging his heels into the ground.

"There has to be another way!" Barry shouted in protest.

"Nope." Bruce knew full well that Barry could have easily zipped away in a flash of blue, but he didn't, he just needed a little push of encouragement. So, Bruce shoved him forcefully into the cold water.

* * *

Steve felt the sting of the bone chilling water against his skin, he remembered the feeling all too well. His eyes struggled to adjust to the black abyss swirling around him. His brown leather jacket that he had retrieved before leaving the cave restricted his movement slightly, the shield on his back weighed him down. He felt the water ripple around him as others joined him in the strange dark world. A blue beaming light suddenly entered the water, the recently repaired arc reactors blinding light something he would never take for granted again. Tony with the use of his boot jets propelled himself swiftly through the water, cutting though it like a knife. Cold metal fingers wrapped around his arm and via the light of the reactor Steve could see Tony also had a firm grasp on Banner, who's eyes were scrunched closed. They descended rapidly, but the facility they were heading towards remained out of sight, not a single light revealed the structure. However, before Steve knew it the arc reactor soon shone upon a large metal wall, a thick metal door sat in front of them. Tony's head turned, checking to see if everyone had followed. Happy with what he saw behind him Tony guided Steve's hand to his shoulder, so he had a hand free to open the door. Turning the large circler wheel Tony unlocked it with ease, prying the door open led into a water filled chamber. Tony pushed Banner and Steve in before making sure everyone else followed. He took one last look at the black world that had consumed him, before pulling the door shut.

* * *

Everyone was on the floor, the sudden and violent draining of the water bringing them to their knees.

"Everyone all right?" Steve asked, a small yellow flickering light above worked alongside Tony's reactor to bring light to the room. his grey top clung to his chest revealing the muscles underneath, while his leather jacket refused to absorb the water.

"I'm getting there." Tony replied and was first on his feet, already making his way over to the next door. A key pad sat at the side of this one and demanded a code. "Any chance its twenty-six, zero-six, ninety-six?" Tony joked, the keypad reminding him of the security code back in the cave, however Bruce's reaction was nothing close to humour. He seemed to stop all movement, his eyes no longer seeing the enclosed metal box he found himself in. Diana pulled him to his feet, holding his hand for a second. She knew what troubled him, she knew the pain he felt. Her touch snapped him out of the sorrowful trance he had been forced into.

"Can you get in?" Steve asked in a serious tone, hoping to bring the danger of the situation to his attention. Steve understood that Tony was having trouble putting his thoughts together, but he was sure Tony would have been able to understand that this might just be their watery grave. Steve was starting to second guess allowing him to come along, he soon realised he probably couldn't have stopped him coming anyway. A few seconds of silence followed after Steve's question.

"Can we get in?" Tony asked his A.I in private, his mind unable to deduce an answer for itself.

"Approximately nine minutes to calculate the correct code." Friday replied, her upbeat voice not really helping. "The software is more advanced than it seems."

"N-N-Nine minutes." Tony informed the others as if he had known all along.

"We can't wait that long, Clark needs us now." Diana argued, they had only just got Superman back, she wasn't going to lose him again. As usual without passing a thought through his head Thor launched Mjölnir at the door, it crashed almost directly in the middle, taking the door of its hinges and propelling it till it hit a wall on the other side. It clattered to the ground, the clanking of the metal deafening. Thor raised his hand and his hammer returned, he lowered his arm with a smile on his face, he was pleased with his work. The others were not.

"Thor!" Steve whispered angrily, even though it was clear there was no point keeping quite anymore.

"I have cleared the way." Thor replied his hair dripping wet, drops of water running down his chest amour.

"And also let that green fuck know we're here!" Bruce was even more annoyed than Steve.

"He has not yet seen us, he can't yet know our numbers." Thor was still confident in his actions.

"Thor's right, we should get moving we still have the element of surprise." Banner defended his friend, Banner had removed his glasses and was attempting to clean them with his soaking wet top.

"I can find Clark and come back in seconds." Barry announced.

"Barry no!" Bruce shouted. Barry was about to run off, the lightening forming in his eyes, Thor clutched Barry's arm before the sparks of lightning could form around him.

"Look at the ground, were we are." Banner told him quickly. Barry looked down at his feet and wanted to hit himself for being so stupid. Not only was the floor and all his friends soaking wet, but the walls, floor and ceiling were made of metal. His lightning would have either killed someone or seriously harmed them. Barry put his hands together taking another quick look around.

"Yep, not good." Never had Barry felt so afraid, for once he couldn't even run away.

"There's a signal coming from within the building, it's the same one that the mind control devices were receiving" Victor informed the others, Tony's amour had also picked up the signal, but he was struggling to put the right words together to tell the others, this frustrated him greatly.

"He's taunting us." Arthur gripped his trident tighter, anger fuelling his strength. This was someone Banner noticed and could relate to, he would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified of releasing the Hulk. He had never expected to find himself in a metal box deep under water, he would have thought they would have left him on the surface.

"We should split up." Bruce suggested as they made their way through the now open door.

"Because t-t-that worked out so well last time." Tony joked. "I doubt you lot want them devices on your necks again." Tony turned to Bruce, the bat keeping an emotionless face.

"We stick close together and use our numbers to our advantage." Steve again took charge.

"Who put you in charge?" Arthur finally decided to express his disapproval, which had been festering for a while.

"You got a better idea?" Steve simply asked, Arthur approached Steve till they were face to face.

"What if I do?"

"If it means we take this guy down and everyone gets out of this unharmed, then I would not hesitate to trust your judgment." Arthur was taken back by his calm, honest response. He struggled to think of something to say.

"Stick together and keep an eye out." Diana pushed through the two before making her way down the corridor.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, as I didn't really like the last chapter I wrote I spent longer on this one. I just wanted to make sure everything I wrote flowed nicely and was pleasant to read. (Theres probs still spelling mistakes... Sorry). Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter, managing this many character is hard and I hope I'm doing them all justice. Love to know your thoughts as always, see you soon.**


	18. Chapter 18, The Man of Steel

They made their way slowly through the surprisingly large building, checking each dark room for any sign of Clark. Tony purposely fell behind so he walked beside Bruce at the back.

"June twenty-sixth, nineteen ninety-six, d-d-doesn't take a genius to figure out it means something to you." Bruce stopped, letting the others move forward and turn a corner with them.

"Who do you think you are?" Bruce remained calm, but he was fighting the urge to punch Tony in the face. Not that his fist would do much to the armour anyway, he would mostly be the one coming worse off. Tony suddenly blocked Bruce's path. The gold and red armour was taller than him, threatening almost. However, the glow of the arc reactor reminding him of how weak the man within can be.

"Tony Stark, Billionaire, g-g-genius…" Tony paused. "Forget about that last one." Tony continued to find humour as a way to escape the fact that he might have lost a piece of him, a piece of him that makes him the great Tony Stark. Bruce pushed passed Tony attempting to catch up with the others.

"December sixteenth, nineteen ninety-one, I lost both my parents." Bruce again stopped walking. "I use the date for everything, security codes, passwords." Bruce could see him now, the gunman who murdered his parents, right in front of him. This is a memory that haunts him every day.

"I lost both my parents too." Bruce said over his shoulder before continuing forward, turning the corner leaving Tony alone. Tony smirked under his mask, he was starting to realize that him and Bruce were much alike. The thought soon passed, and he followed after the others.

* * *

Diana was the first to spot Clark, the blue of his suit and the red cape behind him making him stand out in the dingy large yellow lit room. To a few it was clear the room was a large airlock, able to house small water traveling vehicles. The floor beneath them able to be retracted, creating a large opening allowing water to flood in. Clark was sat on a chair in the centre of the room, his back to them. His head hung in front of him. Everyone watched as Diana approached.

"Superman?" She asked, not wanting to use his name just in case Brainiac had yet to discover his identity. He did not stir as she took another step forward. She reached out with one hand for his shoulder, still the others watched on from behind. With no warning Clark launched out of his chair, spinning round one hand grasped hold of Diana neck while the other swatted the chair away like a fly. Everyone was stunned, they took a second to ready their weapons.

"Barry, Banner, Natasha get out of here!" Bruce shouted, Natasha went to protest but Steve turned giving the same order with just the look in his eyes. Bruce would have preferred having Barry and the Hulk involved in the fight to come, but Barry couldn't even run without electrocuting them all and from what he had heard from the Avenger's the Hulk would tear the building apart. The three hesitated.

"Go!" Bruce barked. The three then quickly exited the room, still not comfortable with leaving their friends behind. The ones remaining were all unable to get a clear shot at Clark, he spun Diana round and wrapped his arm around her neck, using her as a human shield. The Justice League and the Avengers couldn't take their eyes from Superman's face, it was covered by a device, it's metal tendrils wrapped around his head. Unlike the others it hadn't pierced his skin.

"Clark, let her go!" Bruce ordered. Clark did not respond.

"Kal-El it's us, your friends." Diana managed to croak out, Clark's arm firmly against her neck.

"Talking never works." Tony bluntly put before firing a repulsor blast at Clark's shoulder, it was a direct hit having had the time to get Friday to calculate the perfect shot. Clark's shoulder recoiled giving Diana the opportunity to break free. With a powerful elbow to the stomach she rolled away from him, spinning round immediately on her knee before getting to her feet, drawing her sword and shield.

"Restrain him!" Both Steve and Diana ordered, they both made eye contact before Arthur, Victor and Thor moved in. Arthur and Thor were swatted away instantly, crashing agent the floor, meters away from colliding with the wall. Clark latched onto Victors arm as it formed into a gun, his eyes began to glow red and Victor morphed his other arm into a shield just in time putting it between the deadly red laser beams and his own face. Clark then threw him to the ground at his feet and was about to plant a foot through his chest, when Diana bashed him aside with her shield. Steve was ready to follow up on the attack with Tony. Steve landed a solid blow with his shield and followed with a punch to the device on his face. Tony then fired his repulsors, aiming for the device, but the device seemed unharmed after each attack.

"Friday scan it!" Tony shouted to his A.I as Clark got to his feet, his hand grabbing Steve's incoming fist before punching him in the stomach, sending him flying. Steve hit the wall, denting the metal. Clark then went for Tony, even with his boot jets he was unable to dodge the attack, Tony took a knee to the face and crumbled to the floor. Never had he been hit so hard, his lip was bleeding and it took him a second to remember where he was. Tony looked up in time to see Clark's fist hurdling towards him. Diana's lasso suddenly latched around Clark's arm, yanking him away just in time.

"The device is an upgraded model, equipped with an unknown metal, internal shielding and E.M.P blockers." Friday informed Tony as struggled to even lift his head. Thor and Arthur were back on their feet and came up behind Clark, both taking hold of an arm.

* * *

Bruce felt useless, everything happened so fast and he held back. He hesitated because he knew what he could do. He held the E.M.P device in hand, he watched as Arthur and Thor attempted to restrain Clark. He could stop this all here and now, before anyone else got hurt. But if he activates the E.M.P, Tony would die. He watched the Iron Man armour struggle to even lift itself from the floor, having taken a big him. Steve was then at his side clutching his ribs, he assisted Tony to his feet before returning to the fight. Clark had broken free, Thor slapped him across the face with Mjölnir knocking him into the air. Clark remained in the air, everyone watched Superman hover in the middle of the room, his head not far from the ceiling. Bruce battled against his moral code, not wanting to kill a man who had saved his life. Bruce made the decision, the price of one life for many. His thumb was about to hit the switch on the E.M.P, a device which would disable all electronics in the area. Something crashed against the back of Bruce's head, he dropped the device and fell on one knee. Bruce reached for it, but a boot came down on his hand. Bruce looked up, Natasha met his eyes, she pointed a gun right at him.

"What are you doing?" Bruce growled, the fight still taking place on the other side of the large room.

"What do you think?" Natasha crushed E.M.P with her heel. "I'm not going to let you kill my friend." She removed her boot from Bruce's hand.

"You've killed us all!" Bruce launched up, going for Natasha, but an electric shock ran though his body bringing him back to the floor. Barry stood over Bruce, having dealt a no-lethal electric shock to his friend. Barry had managed to channel the small electric charge though his hand leaving the others around him unharmed.

* * *

Diana went at Clark with her sword, he dodged her wild slashes with ease. Both Victor and Tony fired projectiles from behind, they had little effect. Steve, even with multiple broken ribs was keeping up with the pace of the fight. He watched as Diana's sword and shield were knocked form her hands, Clark's head then smashed into hers, knocking Diana to the cold ground. His eyes again began to turn red and Steve dived towards her painfully, putting his shield between them and the red lazars. The two red beams were deflected by the shield, hitting a wall. Water slowly started to fill the room. Thor launched Mjölnir at Clark's back but Superman turned with incredible speed, his fingers latched around the metal hammer however his hand was brought to the floor, unable to lift it. Clark turned back to Steve who raised his shield just in time as Clark landed a punch, it hit dead centre of the shield, knocking him back slightly but he remained on his feet. His shield absorbing most of the force, had left his mostly unharmed. Diana still on the floor swept her legs under Clark's, only brining him to one knee. Not thinking she went for Mjölnir, she gripped the handle. Hammer in hand Diana swung it crashing against Clark's cheek, bashing him to the side. The weight of the hammer was quickly to much and she let it fall to the floor. Thor rose his hand and the hammer slid through the rising water before returning to his hand. Diana and Thor made eye contact for only a second.

* * *

Tony had no time to take in everything that had just happened because Clark had been batted in his direction, Superman hit the ground at his feet and with his arms pointing right at Clark, Tony released his own red lasers from the back of his hands, hoping to pierce the device attached to his face. It did nothing but make Superman clearly angrier. Clark reached up and grabbed one of Tony's arms pulling him off his feet and flipping him, so his back hit the floor. Cold water splashed in all directions. Clarks fist was about to land on the arc reactor when Steve tackled him. His fist hit Tony's shoulder instead, even though the Iron Man armour Tony felt an intense pain.

"Armour breach, left shoulder has suffered injury." Tony didn't hear Fridays calm voice or take notice of the warnings on his screen as he thought through the pain, his back still on the floor with his good arm and rocket boots he propelled himself back onto his feet. The water was now rising fast, the hole in the wall having increased in size. With the water rising Arthur was now in his element, summoning all his strength he forced water at Clark, it barely pinning him against the wall.

"Diana, we need to get everyone out." Steve wiped the blood from his forehead, superman having grazed it with one of his knuckles. "We can't win this fight." Steve insisted. Arthur's strength was quickly fading, she knew she would have to make a decision soon. But before she could the decision was made for her. The Hulk burst into the room, he charged straight for Superman, who was still pinned against the wall. Fist first Hulk collided with Clark sending them both through the wall. Water flooded the room in seconds.

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, hope you enjoyed the fight scene, it took me way to long to write. I split it up into paragraphs to make it flow better and I did my best to give everyone the spotlight. I really enjoyed this chapter, please tell me what you guys thought, helps me out more than you know. See you soon.**


	19. Chapter 19, Divided

Tony remained calm at first, his first thought to save his friends. He then felt the Icey touch of water filling his armour, the hit his shoulder he had taken earlier had punctured his suit. He was aware that his shoulder was in incredible pain and that he couldn't move it or his arm, but the suit breach must have simply slipped his mind, Tony wanted to slap himself for his stupidly. Panic set in fast, his breathing accelerated before the water even reached his waist. His arm and shoulder were now numb from the water pouring over it. His concern was no longer on the world around him or his friends, but that the Iron Man amour he built would be his metal coffin. Tony had never really thought about drowning, wasn't something he worried himself over, now his head was consumed by the thought. Dazed and confused Tony didn't know what to do, he just remained still, floating in the black void. The water was halfway up his chest now, the little air remaining was getting hard to breath in. His eyes stared blankly, all Tony could figure out was that he was going to drown, he believed this to be his irreversible fate. A knocking caught his attention, he blinked rapidly as the water rose to his neck. The light of the arc reactor revelled someone knocking against his golden faceplate.

* * *

Steve felt himself being pulled around by the water, the violent act of it filling the room generating the brutal beating. His ribs irradiated pain. Once the water settled Steve felt like he had already been holding his breath for minutes. He immediately spotted the beaming light of the arc reactor in the pitch black, his eyes not even having to adjust to the darkness. He secured his shield to his back, Tony's unmoving from drove Steve to swim over. If the water hadn't made his blood run cold, a chill would of run down his spine. The blue glowing eyes of the suit stared blankly as usual, even though the lights were on nobody seemed to be home. Steve knocked as hard as he dared against the faceplate. In the back of his mind he was concerned for the other members of his team, Natasha especially. Steve then noticed the damage the armour had sustained, with his lungs starting to crave oxygen Steve tugged at Tony's uninjured arm, pulling his towards the massive opening created by the Hulk. The darkness and pain were disorientating him, with the horrific stabbing pain in his ribs and no visual sign of which way was up. Going on instincts Steve swam in the right direction, pulling Tony along behind him. Two red beams suddenly pierced through the water, only just missing him and Tony. A roar echoed around them, Hulk seeming angrier than ever. The roar made Steve feel like his ears were bleeding, the pain almost rendering him unconscious. Even though the pain quickly passed the freezing water threatened to render Steve's muscles useless, he continued to push himself. He had already almost lost Tony to many times, he refused to let Tony slip through his fingers now. The water rippled violently, as Superman and Hulk collided against each other somewhere in the distance. Both Steve and Tony were forced violently through the water as a shock wave rippled through them, Steve managed to keep hold of the Iron Man armour. He battled against his lungs, the water's surface was now in sight, the sun only just starting to rise. Steve could now see that his vison was becoming blurry, that each desperate attempt he made to get to the surface was being countered by the weight of the Iron Man armour. Steve unwillingly breathed in a gulp of cold water before snapping his mouth shut, he could feel the water swirling in his screaming lungs. He could no longer fight against the will of his mind, he was forced to try and take a deep breath, but all his lungs were gifted with was the cruel touch of water. He didn't even feel his grasp on Tony slipping, his fingers numb from the waters deadly touch. Steve's eyes slipped closed, his legs stopped trying to propel himself towards the surface. The water grew still, the battle that had raged was either over or had moved on to another location. He recalled all to vividly the feeling of icy water, his lungs pleading for just a sip of air, his muscles paralysed by the cold. The only twisted comfort he had this time was that he wasn't alone, but this comfort sickened him as one of his closest friends would be dying at his side. He inhaled one last time, his lungs now full of water, his entire body numb.

* * *

Bruce struggled to pull the super solider from the water, the pebbled lake bank making it hard for him to get traction. Bruce's suit kept him warm enough for his muscles not to seize up, allowing him to swim to the surface. The sun had only just started to rise, a lighter blue tint could be seen on one side of the sky. Bruce had seen Steve and Tony before he reached the surface, he made the hard choice to swim up and get a fresh breath before diving back down to help. Using his grappling gun, he didn't have to swim that far. It latched around Steve's waist and Bruce just had to hope he still had hold of the Iron Man armour. Just before the river bank Steve's steal grip on Tony finally came loose, Bruce quickly pulled Steve just out of the water and rushed to fetch the sinking armour. Back on the river bank he dropped the armour on its back still half in the water, Bruce collapsed exhausted. He sat for just a second allowing himself to catch his breath. He had no time to take in the wooded surroundings he manoeuvred himself to Steve's side, the trees behind towering over them. He wasn't breathing. Bruce didn't hesitate, he pulled his gloves off, he then pinched Steve's nose and gave him mouth to mouth.

* * *

Steve wasn't sure what was going on as he coughed up water, he could just feel that his cloths clung to his skin and that his hair was stuck to his still bleeding forehead. He then felt himself get rolled onto his side and his eyes snapped open. His thoughts all rushed into his head at once. Bruce couldn't prevent the captain pushing himself up onto his hands and knees as he continued to expel water from his lungs. Steve gasped and clutched his ribs.

"Tony!?" Steve coughed, his eyes wide. Bruce simply turned towards the Iron Man armour that still lay on its back. Steve was on his feet before Bruce could even turn back. Bruce didn't have a chance to help as Steve heaved the armour fully from the water. He rolled the armour onto its side and Bruce watched as water began to rush from a hole in the left shoulder. Steve's numb fingers tumbled for the armours manual release, he soon found it and the back of the armour opened up. Water poured out, drenching the already soaking wet pebbled bank. Steve gripped the back of Tony's dripping wet top, tugging him out enough so he could get a grip under his arms. But Steve quickly noticed something wrong with Tony's left shoulder. Instead he put his arms around Tony's chest before hauling him out of the armour and up the bank slightly. Now away from the armour Steve watched Tony silently for just a moment, Tony's soaking wet navy-blue AC-DC, long white sleeved top clung to him. The sleeves themselves still rolled up just passed his elbows. He was about to check if he was still breathing when the genius violently began to cough up water. Steve rolled him onto his good shoulder, but Tony still cried out in pain. Blood glided down his arm from his shoulder, which was clearly dislocated. Steve couldn't help but smile at the sight of him breathing and the arc rector beaming brightly.

"Have you got anything to stop the bleeding?" Steve peeled away a piece of Tony sleeve to get a better look at the wound. He glanced back at the amour and it became clear that the metal had bent inward and punctured his skin.

"No." Bruce replied looking around for any sign of the others. Steve put two fingers to Tony's neck, his eyes where closed and he was still coughing up some water.

"Hold him down for me." Steve commanded, he then weakly pushed himself to his feet, trying to ignore that fact that he might have multiple broken ribs.

"What you going to do?"

"Relocate his shoulder." Steve confirmed what Bruce had suspected. The bat then complied, getting on one knee he put one frim hand on Tony's chest, the other on his right shoulder. "Ready?" Steve had a firm grasp on Tony's bleeding arm.

"Ready." With a quick but strong tug Tony arm popped back into place. His scream seemed to bounce off the surrounding trees, his eyes however remained closed, his body now shaking. The bushes nearby suddenly rustled, both Steve and Bruce's head shot up, eyes looking in the direction of the sound.

"What's the chance that its Superman?" Steve asked as he took his shield from his back, he then put himself between Tony and whatever was approaching.

"What's the chance that it's not?" Bruce replied trying to be positive. Two metal figures then emerged, the two-legged alien like robots shared a similar style and material as the mind control devices. The aliens' hands suddenly turned into weapons, weapons that Bruce instantly recognised. Steve threw his shield, it sliced straight through one of the robots, its torso and lower limbs hitting the ground at different moments. The other robot looked down at his friend but just as he looked up a batarang bounced off its face, it then raised both its hands both now weapons. But Steve's shield blocked the shots before it also sliced right through the robot.

"I didn't expect that." Steve honestly said out loud, looking down at the robot corpses.

"What's that shield made of?"

"Vibranium." Steve simply replied as he knelt back at Tony side.

"Don't tell me then." Bruce believed the name to be made up. "What's the plan?" Bruce asked, wanting to change the subject.

"We can't stay here." Steve's eyes darted around the gloomy woods and across the lake. "I'm sure we haven't seen the last of these things." He looked over at the mangled metal corpses. He then put his shield down, allowing him to cradle Tony in his arms. lifting the genius, he made his way over to the armour that only lay a meter away.

"What are you doing?" Bruce again questioned Steve.

"Tony would kill me if I left the armour behind." Steve carefully put Tony back in his amour before closing it up. "Anyway, he'll be safer in there." Steve then tried to lift the Iron Man armour onto his shoulders, but instead he clutched his ribs in agony. Steve lifted his wet grey top; a massive purple and black bruise ran up the right side of his ribs.

"That doesn't look good." Bruce took the opportunity to pick up the captain's shield, it felt light in his hands.

"I've been through worse." Steve replied before successfully lifting the armour onto his shoulder's. Bruce's eyes scanned the colourful metal surface of the shield before handing it over. "Let's go find the others."

* * *

 **Authors Notes**

 **Hello all, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't know why but this one just seemed to take me longer to write than any of the others, writers block maybe? Who knows. Anyway love to know what you thought, see you soon.**


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